The bayon temple is my favourite out of all the angkor temples!
It is part of angkor Thom and its four walls run north to south and east to west.
It has 37 towers and in its hay day each one had four giant faces carved on them keeping an eye over each compass point. Although it all the towers have all their faces today there are still loads and they are spectacular!
The half smiling (some would say smizing!) faces are possibly that of the hindhu king Jayavarman VII who had bayon built around 1190 ad.
It is a Buddhist temple but has many hindhu influences.
There are some beautiful carvings said to added at a later date by King Jayavarman VIII depicting things from fishing and chess games, to battles and a Khmer circus! These run along the southern wall.
Over all the temple is stunning with so much work and detail. Sometimes it’s hard not to realise that these temples weren’t just thrown together but are works of art in their own right and in their parts. At this temple it isn’t!
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