City - Angkor Wat State - SIEM REAB Country - Cambodia
About
. Monks walk through the north outer gallery of Prasat Bayon, one monument of the Angkor complexes.
The Bayon is located in the center of the city of Angkor Thom 1500 meters from the south gate of the city and 3.25 km from the west causeway leading to Angkor Wat. The monument is usually entered from its east side by means of a sightly elevated sandstone causeway in two sections. Prasat Bayon was built in late 12th century to early 13th century, nearly 100 years after Angkor Wat, by King Jayavarman VII, dedicated to Buddhist. The basic structure and earliest part of the temple are not known. Since it was located at the center of a royal city it seems possible that the Bayon would have originally been a temple-mountain conforming to the symbolism of a microcosm of Mount Meru. The middle part of the temple was extended during the second phase of building. The Bayon of today belongs to the third and last phase of the art style. The layout is based on a yantra, a type of geometric diagram of Indian Tantric Buddhist inspiration used to create the mandala ? the concentric diagram symbolizing the universe and the place of divine powers within it. The most extraordinary features of the Bayon, however, are its towers with faces and the abundantly informative bas-reliefs of the second and third enclosures.
On the background-wall behind the monks you could see the bas-reliefs about 3.5 m high with mostly images of battle scenes and a few evocations of daily life.
It is recommended to view the galleries of bas-reliefs clockwise, always keeping the monument on the right. Do not get so absorbed with the fear that you forget to stop at each opening and enjoy the view of the faces on the third level.
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{K:12249} 6/25/2005
