Why go
King Jayavarman VII established Angkor Thom as a late twelfth-century capital. Enter through a gate with face towers and lines of figures holding a naga, then look for the Bayon at the city's centre. The scale of its walls helps you understand that monuments such as Baphuon and Phimeanakas once belonged to a working royal city.
What to look for
- Face towers mark the city gates.
- Rows of figures hold a naga along the approach to a gate.
- The Bayon stands at the centre of the walled city.
The full story
Angkor Thom was established by Jayavarman VII in the late twelfth century as the capital of his empire. The walled area contains the Bayon at its centre, along with monuments from both his reign and earlier periods. Baphuon and Phimeanakas, for example, help show that the city's history did not begin all at once. Its gates announce the scale of the project. Face towers rise above the entrances, while lines of giant figures hold the body of a naga on the approach. Roads lead inward toward the Bayon. Read together, these features turn an arrival through the wall into an introduction to the city, not merely an entrance to one temple. The city was modified over time and later abandoned as a capital. What survives is only part of its former built environment. Leave room to move between the major monuments and to notice the spaces between them.
Useful to know
- Plan Angkor Thom as a spread-out city visit rather than one short temple stop.
- Use the gates and Bayon to orient yourself before choosing additional monuments inside the walls.