Angkor_Thom

Angkor Thom ~

Angkor Thom was the last capital city of the Khmer empire, and had supported a population of approximately one million people. There are an assortment of temples and monuments scattered throughout it's 360 acres. The most impressive, Bayon (at right), sits in the cities center, and was built nearly 100 years after Angkor Wat, under King Jayavarman VII.

From a distance, the temple looks to be crumbling away. However, upon closer inspection, the many jagged edges and various formations of the fifty-four towers are covered with over 200 enormous, beautifully-carved faces, that give this temple it's jagged skyline.
It is debated that the faces covering Bayon represent either Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, in keeping with the Buddhist character of the temple, or the more accepted belief that the four faces on each of the towers are images of King Jayarvarman VII and signify the omnipresence of the king.
(excerpt taken from Angkor)

At Bayon, you are always being "watched."

The famous smile

Intricate carvings cover the monuments throughout Angkor Thom

Succumbing to the unyielding pressures of Mother Nature