Jayavarman VII (ruled 1181 - 1220) came to power at the age of 60. He built the city of Angkor Thom in a last frenzy of activity as the Khmer Empire began its long decline. The size and layout of this new city, raised on the site of the old city of Angkor, was vast, representing a great king. Its construction required the forced labor of thousands of people, who became increasingly disillusioned with serving their king in this way.
The whole city was surrounded by a broad moat 300 feet wide, and eight miles in circumference and was reputably filled with crocodiles. A stone wall 24 feet high and 10 miles long inside the moat offered further protection against enemies. The city had five huge gates, each with a causeway crossing the moat. The 60-foot high [P 015/gateways] were elaborately decorated and wide enough to admit a procession of elephants. Each gate was decorated with elephant trunks carved in stone and on top, four huge carved faces of the [G 06 / Bodhisattva], [G 02 / Avalokitesvara] looked north, south, east and west.
Each [P 016 /causeway] was bordered by the sculptured [G 03 /balustrades] of [G 22 / nagas], and with 54 [P 022 / statues of gods] and 54 statues of demons. The causeways led all the way to the temple of [G 26 / Preah] Khan, about a mile away. Wide avenues connected the multitude of stone and wooden buildings, temples, terraces and plazas. On the towers around the city walls, huge smiling Buddha faces were carved out of stone. These were in fact all given the face of Jayavarman VII, smiling serenely as he surveyed his city.
The court, religious leaders, priests and administrative officials lived inside the city walls. Other citizens lived outside by the east and west [G 04 / barays] and along the Siem Reap River up to the shores of the great lake. At the center of the city was the Grand Plaza, which led off to all the other buildings. Jayavarman added the Terrace of Elephants (known as the Royal Terrace) along one side of the plaza. It was from this 1,100-foot long platform, decorated with [G 05 / bas-relief] carvings of elephants, lions and [G 10 / devatas], that audiences watched the grand processions and pageants in the Royal Plaza. On the opposite side of the central square, Jayavarman constructed the 12 Towers of the Cord Dancers, each probably housing a statue or a [G 18 / linga].
Beautiful carvings can be seen on the Terrace of the Leper King. Located north of the Terrace of Elephants on one side of the Royal Plaza, it stands 22 feet high. On top of it there is a mysterious statue, thought to be of [G 29 / Siva] or of Yasovarman (AD889 to c. AD900), the builder of the first city of Angkor. There is a legend that he died of leprosy and this statue was later carved in his memory.
THE [M 009 / BAYON TEMPLE]:
The Bayon was the principal temple built by Jayavarman VII, situated within the walls of the City of Angkor Thom. Jayavarman VII was a Buddhist, but the Bayon contains elements of both Buddhism and Hinduism. It was originally dedicated to the god, [G 29 / Siva], and the initial plan was for only two levels to be built. During construction, it became a [G 21 / Mahayana] Buddhist temple and a third level was built and decorated with Buddha statues.
The early construction of the Bayon was similar to [G 26 / Preah] Khan, Ta Prohm and Banteay Kdei temples, all of which were horizontal temples. Jayavarman evidently later decided to build a pyramid temple, with the same symbolic form of Mount Meru being used again, only in a Buddhist temple. The third level with massive towers and mysterious [P 026 / carved faces] were added.
The whole building process took several decades and later structures were superimposed on the earlier design. This resulted in a mass of dark narrow corridors, some of which were in fact the spaces between walls dating from different periods. Sometimes stones laid later on destroyed earlier carvings made in the walls of the temple.
In the time of Chou Ta-Kuan (late 13th century), the towers of the Bayon were covered with gild, and on the east side of the temple there was a golden bridge guarded by golden lions. This gold was looted, probably by the Thais in the mid-15th century when they sacked Angkor. By the late 19th century, the Bayon had suffered great damage from the encroaching jungle. Unlike Angkor Wat, which had become a Buddhist shrine and had been carefully cleared of vegetation by Buddhist monks over the centuries, the Bayon had been left entirely to the mercy of the jungle for 450 years.
This third level of the Bayon temple is remarkable. There are [L3 214 / 54 towers], each headed by four faces of [G 02 / Avalokitesvara] which stare at the visitor from all angles. [L3 215 / P 029 / The bas-relief carvings at the Bayon] show an extraordinary tableaux of contemporary Cambodian life on the first level, and stories from the Hindu myths on the second level.
PREAH KHAN:
This is one of the larger temples built by Jaya[G 32 / varman] VII. It has been very well preserved and much of the original temple remains today. It is much smaller than Angkor Wat and the Bayon, but was built to the same form. A central sanctuary is surrounded by galleries, library buildings and other lesser buildings. The temple is surrounded by four walls and a moat.
This was a Buddhist temple, so the general effect is not the same as the pyramid temple, but a simpler style built mainly at ground level. However, the decoration is anything but simple. Many of the elaborate Hindu-related [G 05 / bas-reliefs] on this temple were effaced by Buddhists hundreds of years ago. The ones that remain show a somewhat frenzied style of decoration which, in places, is over-elaborate and crowded.
[M 012 / TA PROHM TEMPLE]:
This temple is considered the most beautiful by many visitors because of its extraordinary relationship with the surrounding jungle which is actually slowly destroying it. [P 059 / Ta Prohm] is a very large Buddhist temple built by Jayavarman VII and once tended by 18 high priests and more than 2,500 lesser priests. It housed more than 12,000 people within its enclosures.
Once it was abandoned, the jungle slowly overtook the buildings, cracking and squeezing walls and prising stones apart. The French restorers decided to leave Ta Prohm exactly as they found it, so today the slow encroachment of the jungle continues to take place. Great blocks that fell centuries ago lie on the jungle floor covered in ferns and bushes. The canopy of trees which overhang the whole site obstruct the sunlight, creating a strange green half-light. Everywhere there are insects, birds, bats, frogs and animals - all living in the ruins.
Ta Prohm is a strange harmony of stone and vegetation which will one day disappear forever into the soil of the jungle. Some [P 011 / carvings and statues] remain as sharply carved as they were nearly 800 years ago.
