The state temple of Jayavarman VII
The Bayon was built at the turn of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries as the state temple of Jayavarman VII, the king who rebuilt the Khmer empire after the Cham sack of Angkor in 1177. It stands at the precise centre of his walled city, Angkor Thom, where the roads from the four gates meet.
It is the only state temple at Angkor built primarily as a Mahayana Buddhist sanctuary, though later kings reworked it towards Hindu and then Theravada use, and the resulting layers are part of what makes it so architecturally confusing and so rewarding.
The faces
The towers carry enormous carved faces, calm and faintly smiling, oriented to the cardinal points. Around two hundred survive across thirty-seven standing towers; there were originally more.
Who they represent is still argued over. The most common readings are the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the king himself, or a deliberate merging of the two. Standing among them at close range, the question feels less important than the effect.
The bas-reliefs
The outer gallery holds something Angkor Wat does not: scenes of ordinary Khmer life. Alongside the great naval battle against the Cham on the Tonlé Sap, you will find markets, cockfights, childbirth, cooking, gambling and fishing, carved with an eye for detail that makes the twelfth century feel suddenly close.
The inner gallery, added later, turns to Hindu mythology.
Visiting
The Bayon is on the small circuit and is one of the two genuine bottlenecks at Angkor, along with Ta Prohm. Arrive early — before eight — or late in the afternoon.
The faces are best photographed in low, raking light. Middle of the day flattens them completely. Access requires a valid Angkor pass.