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The Bayon of Angkor Thom | |
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The Bayon was the state temple of King Jayavarman VII (1181-1218), dedicated to the Buddha. The temple is located in the centre of the new royal city Angkor Thom. Around the central tower were numerous shrines of Buddhist and Hindu gods, for all gods venerated in the kingdom. |  |
The central tower is raised on a cruciform terrace, surrounded by many more towers and framed by two galleries (to make it simple). The outer gallery, 156 m by 141 m, was originally accentuated by a full vault and a preceding half vault. There were eight big towers. Only the inner wall many pillars have remained. The reliefs of the outer gallery show daily life and scenes of wars against the Chams. |
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| Chams Champa was a contemporary kingdom in what is now central Vietnam. Their civilization and religion was similar to that of the Khmers: Hinduism and Buddhism. Chams and Khmers fought each other for centuries. In 1177 an 1178 AD the Cham invaded via the Tonlé Sap and captured Angkor. Later Jayavarman VII expelled the Cham from Angkor. He conquered Champa and made it temporarily a Khmer province. At Bayon reliefs the Chams wear lotus hats. Later the Cham became Muslims, many of them live now in Cambodia. |
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The inner gallery shows daily life too, and mytholgical scenes. Here the Leper King is fighting a serpent.
Face towers How many towers and faces are there? – The question is idle; better you open your mind for their message: 'Le sourir khmer'* The Boddhisattva Avalokiteshvara is the Buddhist God of universal compassion. His face – in the likeness of King Jayavarman VII – is depicted on the four fronts of every Bayon tower. With his smile his blessings are radiating in the four directions, everywhere in the whole world.* le sourir khmer' (French): 'the Cambodian smile'. The ensemble The design and construction, even its dedication to Buddhism or Hinduism, was modified several times... Anyhow, the result of this complicated story is a great picture: a hillock overgrown with towers, which, like trees in a natural forest, getting taller towards the centre. (Freeman/Jacques, p. 86) The best time to visit the Bodhisattva is around noon. Then the temple is quiet, the steep sunlight accentuating the faces. (Take water with you!) The central tower sheltered a huge statue, the Buddha meditating,some 3.6 m tall, enthroned on the Naga King Muchalinda. It was destroyed during the iconoclasm in the middle of the 13th century. The statue is now in Vihear Prampil Loveng (see photograph). |
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