Angkor Thom

Angkor Thom was the royal city built by Jayavarman VII (which probably reigned of 1181 with 1220), Buddhist king of the Khmer Empire, at the end of the 12th century and at the beginning of the 13th century, after Angkor was conquered and destroyed by the Chams. Its current name, Angkor Thom, mean “the large city”; its Khmer name was Mahānagara .

This city is located at approximately two kilometers of Right Bank of the Siem Reap, a river tributary of the Tonlé Sap.

The city

The royal city with the form of a quadrilateral, approximately three kilometers length and width, surrounded by a eight meters high rampart bordered by ditches. In the middle of each of the four enclosing walls is a monumental door, decorated with immense faces of one of the four Large Kings of the Pantheon hindouist and representation of Indra overlapping its elephant tricéphale.

These four doors are connected by two perpendicular ways which meet in the center of the enclosure where the Bayon is located. A fifth door, the door of the Victoire, is located a little at the north of the door of the wall Is (the door of Mort) and gave access the Terrasse elephants of the Palais Royal, by a paved road probably intended to accommodate the victorious processions. This door is in the alignment of the center of the Eastern bārāy , marked by the Mébon.

To each door a roadway corresponds which crosses the ditches. These roadways are kept on each side by 54 giants, of the yakṣa , which hold the fabulous snake, the nāga assembling the guard in front of the four large kings.

Constructions of Jayavarman VII are representative by their decoration of the Syncrétisme successful by the Khmers between the Buddhism Mahāyāna and the worships hindouists of Śiva and Viṣṇu.

Monuments

Inside this enclosure, the ruins of palate are, temples and other buildings, invaded by the forest. The principal ones are:

vestiges of the Palais Royal, built under the reign of Suryavarman I, 150 years before the erection of the enclosure;
the Phiméanakas, pyramidal religious structure which is in the same enclosure as the Palais Royal, Celestial Palais where, according to the legend, the king passed the first part of each night with the Queen-Sun;
the Terrasse of the elephants which dominates the royal place and over which gave the entry of the Palais Royal, and the Terrasse of the leprous King, located at the North of this one;
the temple of the Bayon, temple of State of Jayavarman VII;
two small Buddhist temples: the Preah Palilay, with only one tower, decorated with scenes of the life of Buddha, and the Mtoe Pranam of which remains hardly than a very large statue of the sitted Buddha;
two buildings whose destination remains mysterious: northern Khléang and Southern
bordering in the east the road of Bayon to the Northern door, twelve small towers known as Prasat Sour Prat of festive use;
Angkor Thom had a very sophisticated management system of water:

in the south-western angle, the Thom Bang collects waste water collected by a ditch running to the foot of the wall.
in the west of the Palais Royal, small a baray was fed by a channel coming from the Western baray
in the enclosure of the palate, the large royal pond, of approximately 40 m out of 120 m, whose curbstone is finely carved.

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