Bayon temple, Angkor Thom: 200 smiling stone faces at the heart of the Khmer capital

Passing through the South Gate of the royal city of Angkor Thom across a stone causeway lined by rows of gods (Devas) and demons (Asuras) cradling the seven-headed Naga serpent, visitors follow a straight tree-shaded avenue for another kilometer and a half to reach the exact geometric center of the capital. Unlike Angkor Wat with its vast individual moat and distant outer enclosure, the Bayon rises abruptly from the forest floor like a weathered silver-gray crag of stacked stone. From the lower courtyards, the monument initially appears compressed and labyrinthine. Yet the moment you climb onto the third upper terrace, an extraordinary sight surrounds you on every side: from 37 stone towers clustered around the central sanctuary, hundreds of colossal faces with half-closed eyes, straight noses, and softly curving lips gaze quietly down upon you from every angle.

When earlier generations of Vietnamese referred to the Siem Reap monuments collectively as Đế Thiên Đế Thích, they used Đế Thiên for Angkor Wat and Đế Thích for the royal city of Angkor Thom and its central temple, the Bayon. This was the last state temple-mountain raised at Angkor, and the only Angkorian state temple built from its inception for Mahayana Buddhism under King Jayavarman VII in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, before evolving into a sanctuary of Theravada Buddhism from the 14th century to the present day.

IThe Smile of Lokesvara and the Mystery of the Four-Faced Towers

The modern name Bayon is a Latinized transcription recorded in 1880 by the French epigrapher Étienne Aymonier from the Khmer spelling Bayânt. As Aymonier and Angkor conservator Maurice Glaize explained, Bayânt is a phonetic corruption of the Pali Vejayanta or Sanskrit Vaijayanta, the name of the celestial palace of the god Indra at the summit of the cosmic mountain, of which the earthly temple was conceived as a reflection. In Sanskrit inscriptions from the reign of Jayavarman VII, the monument bore the original name Jayagiri (Jaya meaning victory and giri meaning mountain, or Victory Mountain). The traditional Vietnamese name Đế Thích (the Sino-Vietnamese title for Indra, Lord of the Devas) thus echoes the very Sanskrit etymology of Indra's celestial palace Vaijayanta.

Unlike his predecessors who built state temples for the Hindu deities Shiva or Vishnu, King Jayavarman VII (who reigned from 1181 to around 1218 or 1220) was a devoted Mahayana Buddhist. He rebuilt the entire walled capital of Angkor Thom covering 9 square kilometers and placed the Bayon at its exact geometric center as his state temple, bringing together the Buddha, Bodhisattvas, and hundreds of regional guardian deities from every province of the empire into a single cosmic mandala.

According to the tradition

The question most frequently asked by pilgrims and art historians over the past century is whom the more than two hundred colossal stone faces on the Bayon's towers represent. The French scholar George Coedès and a wide consensus of Buddhist art historians identify the faces with the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (venerated in Angkorian Khmer religion as Lokesvara, Lord of the World), the Bodhisattva of infinite compassion who gazes toward all four cardinal directions to hear and relieve the suffering of sentient beings. At the same time, the facial features closely match authenticated stone portrait statues of King Jayavarman VII himself. Within the Buddhist theology of kingship of that era, the monarch was revered as a living Bodhisattva-king (Buddharaja) watching benevolently over his subjects, so the faces merge the compassionate countenance of Lokesvara with the likeness of the sovereign.

An alternative interpretation noted by local tradition and several scholars points out that four faces looking toward the four directions (chaturmukha) had long been the classical attribute of the Hindu creator god Brahma, and that the Bayon faces wear crowns, heavy pendant earrings, necklaces, and on some towers a vertical mark on the forehead resembling the third eye of Shiva. As Coedès observed, these readings do not contradict each other: Khmer sculptors adapted the familiar four-faced Brahma visual convention to express the omnipresent compassion of Lokesvara across the four quarters of the universe, while the vertical third-eye incisions reflect alterations made during a brief Hindu revival in the mid-13th century.

According to the historical record

Inside the central chamber beneath the 43-meter main tower, the primary cult image originally enshrined at the Bayon was not a statue of Lokesvara, but a 3.6-meter sandstone statue of the historical Buddha seated in meditation beneath the protective hood of the Naga serpent king Mucalinda. According to Buddhist scripture, during the sixth week after the Buddha attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, a violent rainstorm broke out for seven days, and the serpent king Mucalinda coiled his body seven times around the Buddha to raise him above the rising floodwaters while spreading his great hood like an umbrella over the Buddha's head. In the mid-13th century, during a Shaivite reaction under King Jayavarman VIII, this central Buddha statue was removed from the sanctuary, broken into pieces, and cast into a deep well beneath the central tower to be replaced by a Shiva Linga. In 1933, the French archaeologist Georges Trouvé discovered the fragments at the bottom of the well, raised them, and pieced the statue back together, restoring one of the supreme masterpieces of Angkorian Buddhist sculpture.

A common misunderstanding

The most widespread misconception in popular travel guides is stating as a fixed fact that the Bayon has exactly 54 towers and 216 stone faces (multiplying 54 by 4). Archaeological reality is more nuanced. Detailed structural surveys by Maurice Glaize and the Japanese Government Team for the Safeguarding of Angkor (JSA) demonstrate that the number of towers changed across successive ancient construction phases: at its peak the monument had 49 face-towers (or 54 if subsidiary gate towers are counted), and not every tower carries four faces, as several towers along the galleries have only two or three faces. Today, 37 face-towers remain standing with approximately 200 recognizable stone faces in varying states of preservation. The library records both the popular 54-tower, 216-face figure and the archaeological count of 37 surviving towers and roughly 200 faces for clarity.

IIThree Religious Layers Carved into a Single Mountain of Stone

Few monuments in Southeast Asia bear the physical imprint of religious transformation as visibly as the Bayon. Unlike Angkor Wat, which was executed according to a single unified master plan under Suryavarman II, the Bayon underwent repeated architectural modifications across at least three major historical phases: its foundation as a Mahayana Buddhist state temple, its remodeling into a Shaivite Hindu sanctuary in the mid-13th century, and its enduring adaptation to Theravada Buddhism from the 14th century onward, followed by 20th-century archaeological conservation.

1181Accession of King Jayavarman VII and planning of Angkor Thom
After consolidating the kingdom, King Jayavarman VII laid out the new royal capital of Angkor Thom covering 9 square kilometers enclosed by a 100-meter-wide moat and an 8-meter-high laterite wall, establishing Mahayana Buddhism as the spiritual foundation of the realm.
Late 12th to early 13th centuryConstruction of the Bayon (Jayagiri) state temple
The monarch raised the Bayon at the exact center of the capital. Initially begun on a single-level cruciform plan, it was expanded during Jayavarman VII's own reign into a square layout with a raised upper terrace crowned by face-towers and the central Buddha sheltered by Mucalinda.
Mid-13th centuryHindu remodeling under King Jayavarman VIII
King Jayavarman VIII (r. c. 1243 to 1295) restored Shaivite Hinduism as the court religion, casting the central Buddha statue into the well, demolishing 16 small chapels in the courtyard, recarving Buddhist images, and adding Hindu mythological bas-reliefs to the inner gallery.
14th centuryTransition to Theravada Buddhism
As Theravada Buddhism became the faith of the Khmer populace, the Bayon returned to Buddhist veneration and remained a place of worship even after the royal court shifted south in the 15th century.
1880 and early 20th centuryDocumentation by Aymonier and recovery of the central Buddha
In 1880 Étienne Aymonier recorded the name Bayon. The École Française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) cleared and stabilized the monument using anastylosis, and in 1933 Georges Trouvé recovered the original Mucalinda Buddha from the central well.
1992 and from 1995UNESCO World Heritage inscription and JSA conservation
In 1992 the Angkor complex was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since 1995, the Japanese Government Team for the Safeguarding of Angkor (JSA) has worked alongside UNESCO and APSARA to conserve the face-towers and bas-relief galleries.

According to the historical record

In the history of Khmer architecture, if Angkor Wat represents the poise and open symmetry of the classical style, the Bayon is described by the JSA conservation team and Maurice Glaize as the supreme expression of the Khmer baroque style: architectural elements crowd closely together, and dozens of carved towers rise in dense tiers over a compact footprint, creating an atmosphere of dramatic intensity as visitors move through its narrow passages.

In 1296, the Yuan dynasty envoy Zhou Daguan visited Angkor Thom and recorded in his memoir The Customs of Cambodia (Zhenla Fengtu Ji) that at the exact center of the kingdom stood a Golden Tower (referring to the central tower of the Bayon, which was originally gilded or sheathed in gilded bronze) flanked by more than twenty stone towers and hundreds of stone chambers. This eyewitness account confirms that at the close of the 13th century the central spire of the Bayon gleamed with gold above the forest canopy rather than appearing as bare gray sandstone.

IIIThree Tiered Enclosures, Two Bas-Relief Galleries, and the Central Sanctuary

The Bayon has no individual outer moat or boundary wall of its own because the 3-kilometer-square laterite ramparts and 100-meter-wide moat of Angkor Thom itself serve as the outer enclosure and cosmic ocean for the temple. The monument stands at the intersection of the four axial avenues running straight from the city's four cardinal gates (with a fifth gate, the Victory Gate, lying parallel to the north on the eastern wall to serve the Royal Palace). The temple consists of three concentric levels (the outer gallery, the raised inner gallery, and the upper terrace supporting the major face-towers) stepping inward and upward toward the central sanctuary in the form of cosmic Mount Meru.

Because the upper terrace was added after the lower galleries had already been laid out, the courtyard between the inner gallery and the upper terrace is remarkably narrow, compressing the towers into a dense forest of stone faces. The primary building material is gray sandstone laid without mortar over a laterite foundation. Although the sandstone blocks at the Bayon were cut smaller and stacked more rapidly than those at Angkor Wat to meet the scale of Jayavarman VII's building program, the expressive vitality of the stone carving is unmatched.

Outer gallery (160 m by 140 m)

The lowest rectangular enclosure surrounding the temple. Its corbelled stone roof vaults have largely collapsed, exposing a continuous wall of narrative bas-reliefs depicting historical processions, naval engagements, and scenes of 12th- and 13th-century Khmer daily life.

Inner gallery (80 m by 70 m)

Raised a tier higher than the outer gallery, originally laid out as a redented cross and later squared off at the corners. Its walls feature smaller relief panels carved during the reign of Jayavarman VIII with Hindu mythological scenes of Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, and the Churning of the Ocean of Milk.

Upper terrace and forest of four-faced towers

The third level supporting the majority of the 37 surviving face-towers. Each tower is assembled from fitted sandstone blocks carved into four colossal faces of Lokesvara looking east, west, south, and north with a tranquil smile.

Central sanctuary tower (43 m high)

The tallest mass at the heart of the monument, circular in plan (about 25 meters in diameter over an earlier cruciform base) and rising 43 meters above ground level, encircled by a ring of small radiating chapels.

Bas-reliefs of everyday Khmer life

The most distinctive artistic feature of the Bayon compared to Angkor Wat: beneath the scenes of war elephants and boats on the Tonle Sap Lake, the lower register of the outer gallery vividly portrays open-air markets, weighing goods, cooking rice, grilling fish, cockfighting, board games, childbirth, and Chinese merchants.

Twin Libraries (Scripture pavilions)

Standing symmetrically at the southern and northern corners inside the eastern entrance of the outer courtyard, raised on steep molded basements with classical balustered stone windows.

Architectural measurements compiled from surveys by Maurice Glaize (EFEO), the JSA conservation team, and the UNESCO dossier. Source: UNESCO World Heritage dossier No. 668, Encyclopædia Britannica, and Maurice Glaize, The Monuments of the Angkor Group..
Feature	Archaeological measurement	Notes and reference sources
Area of Angkor Thom royal city	9 sq km (3 km on each side)	UNESCO and Britannica, surrounded by a 100-m-wide moat
Outer gallery dimensions	Approx. 160 m by 140 m	Maurice Glaize, elongated slightly along the east-west axis
Inner gallery dimensions	Approx. 80 m by 70 m	Maurice Glaize, featuring four corner towers and four axial gopuras
Height of central tower	43 m	Measured from the temple courtyard to the central spire
Number of face-towers	37 surviving (out of 49 or 54 originally)	Glaize and JSA record 49 original towers, popular guides cite 54
Number of stone faces	Approx. 200 surviving (out of 216 theoretical)	Individual carved faces measure from 1.8 m to over 2.4 m high
Total length of bas-reliefs	Approx. 1,200 m (over 11,000 carved figures)	Combined length of the outer and inner narrative galleries

Walking clockwise along the outer gallery from the eastern entrance toward the southern wing, visitors should look closely at the lower register along the base of the wall. Whereas the reliefs of Angkor Wat are devoted entirely to gods, kings, and epic battles, the 12th-century sculptors of the Bayon dedicated an entire frieze to the ordinary people of Angkor: a cook blowing on a kitchen fire, villagers pouring wine, two men crouching with prized fighting cocks, a hunter drawing his bow in the forest, and even wild boars locking tusks. This stone chronicle makes the Bayon the richest visual record of medieval Khmer society.

IVLandform and Orientation

A clear distinction must be drawn at the outset: King Jayavarman VII and his 12th-century Khmer architects laid out Angkor Thom and the Bayon according to Mahayana Buddhist and Hindu sacred cosmology (the cosmic Mandala and the Churning of the Ocean of Milk), and did not use East Asian feng shui. Following classical Khmer sacred orientation, unlike westward-facing Angkor Wat, the Bayon faces east toward the rising sun, symbolizing enlightenment and the renewal of life. The reading below is a comparative analysis by the library using traditional Sino-Vietnamese landform principles (hình thế) to illustrate how the capital's siting compares with classical Eastern geomancy.

Terrain and orientation

Viewed on a regional scale at coordinates 13.4411° N, 103.8586° E, the walled city of Angkor Thom and the Bayon rest on the gently sloping alluvial plain descending from the sacred plateau of Phnom Kulen in the northeast toward the great Tonle Sap Lake in the south. In traditional landform terms, the Phnom Kulen range acts as the ancestral mountain (tổ sơn) initiating the dragon vein (long mạch) and supplying both the sandstone blocks and the waters of the Siem Reap River flowing along the eastern flank of the capital. Positioning the capital on the level plain between the northern upland range and the vast southern lake exemplifies the classical macro-configuration of mountain backing and water facing, with high hills shielding the rear (hậu chẩm) and a boundless body of water serving as the great bright hall (đại minh đường) in front.

Within the city walls, the Bayon occupies the exact central node (huyệt) at the cross-axial intersection of the north-south and east-west avenues linking the four cardinal gates. In traditional Eastern spatial reading, the center of a 9-square-kilometer square citadel is the point where the four quarters converge, drawing vital qi inward along four straight avenues to gather at a single hub. Encircling the entire city is a 100-meter-wide moat measuring 12 kilometers in perimeter, forming a continuous jade-belt water ring that retains and stabilizes the qi of the capital.

In orientation, the Bayon sits west and faces east. Directly ahead of the eastern entrance stretches an open royal plaza flanked by the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King, functioning as a spacious inner bright hall (nội minh đường) that allows the morning sun and incoming qi from the East Gate and Victory Gate to illuminate the central sanctuary unobstructed. Above all, crowning the upper terrace with dozens of four-faced towers looking simultaneously toward the East, West, South, and North creates a balanced omnidirectional field in which every approach is met by the serene gaze of the center.

VTheravada Buddhist Observances and Seasonal Festivals in the Ancient Capital

Today, beneath the stone face-towers and inside the open radiating chapels around the central sanctuary of the Bayon, saffron-draped Buddha statues are tended daily with lotus blossoms and incense by local villagers and Theravada Buddhist monks. Major religious observances at the temple and across Angkor Thom follow the traditional Khmer lunisolar calendar, sustained by the more than one hundred traditional villages living within the Angkor heritage park.

Because observances follow the Khmer lunisolar calendar, corresponding Gregorian dates shift slightly each year. Source: APSARA National Authority, UNESCO World Heritage dossier No. 668, and Cambodian festival records..
Time of year	Calendar system	Observance	Religious and cultural practices at the Bayon and Angkor Thom
Mid-April (usually April 13 to 16)	Khmer calendar (Chol Chnam Thmey)	Traditional Khmer New Year	Families from Siem Reap dress in traditional attire to visit the Bayon and monasteries around Angkor Thom, offering lotus flowers and incense, building sand stupas, and receiving New Year blessings from monks.
Full moon of the 6th Khmer lunar month (around May)	Khmer lunisolar calendar	Visak Bochea (Buddha Day)	Commemorating the birth, enlightenment, and Parinirvana of the Buddha. Monks and lay devotees perform clockwise circumambulation with lotus buds and candles.
Full moon of the 3rd Khmer lunar month (around February to March)	Khmer lunisolar calendar	Meak Bochea	Honoring the Buddha's gathering of 1,250 arahants and the recitation of the monastic code, marked by chanting and meditation.
September to October (final 15 days of the 10th Khmer month)	Khmer lunisolar calendar	Pchum Ben (Ancestors' Festival)	Cambodia's foremost festival of filial piety, when families offer rice balls (bay ben) and alms to the Sangha at local temples to dedicate merit to deceased ancestors.
November (full moon of the 12th Khmer month)	Khmer lunisolar calendar	Bon Om Touk (Water Festival)	Celebrating the seasonal reversal of the Tonle Sap River, echoing the 12th-century royal boat processions carved directly onto the southern gallery bas-reliefs of the Bayon.

For Vietnamese pilgrims and cultural travelers visiting Siem Reap, the Bayon is invariably paired with Angkor Wat. Whereas Angkor Wat inspires awe through the vast horizontal scale of a Hindu temple-mountain, the Bayon speaks to inward contemplation through the tranquil smile of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, a figure deeply revered in Vietnamese Buddhist devotion.

VILocation And How To Get There

Address: Angkor Thom, Angkor Archaeological Park, Krong Siem Reap, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Getting there: The Bayon stands at the exact center of the walled city of Angkor Thom, about 1.7 km north of Angkor Wat and roughly 7.5 km north of downtown Siem Reap. From Siem Reap, follow Charles de Gaulle Boulevard past the Angkor ticket checkpoint and Angkor Wat, then pass through the South Gate of Angkor Thom and continue straight for 1.5 km to the temple entrance.
Coordinates: 13.4411, 103.8586

Directions View on the map

When you arrive

The Bayon stands at the heart of Angkor Thom and remains an active site of Buddhist veneration. Visitors must wear attire covering both shoulders and knees in accordance with the dress code of the APSARA National Authority. The stone steps ascending to the upper terrace with the face-towers are steep, narrow, and worn smooth over eight centuries, so please step carefully and hold the handrails. Do not climb onto window ledges, and never touch or lean against the carved stone faces or the bas-reliefs along the two galleries. The finest natural light for viewing the subtle relief of the smiling faces occurs in the early morning shortly after sunrise or in the late afternoon when angled sunlight casts deep shadows across the sandstone.

Nearby places in the library

Angkor WatSiem Reap · A Hindu temple-mountain dedicated to the god Vishnu, built in the early 12th century by King Suryavarman II and oriented toward the west, described by Britannica as the world's largest religious structure and the pinnacle of Khmer architecture.Banteay SreiSiem Reap · A 10th-century Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva (under the title Tribhuvanamahesvara, Great Lord of the Threefold World), consecrated on April 22, 967 CE and founded by the royal scholar-guru Yajnavaraha and his brother Vishnukumara at the close of King Rajendravarman II's reign.Silver Pagoda, Phnom PenhPhnom Penh · The royal chapel on the southern side of the Royal Palace compound in Phnom Penh, originally built in wood under King Norodom from 1892 to 1902 and reconstructed in marble-clad reinforced concrete in 1962 under Queen Mother Sisowath Kossamak and King Norodom Sihanouk.

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?Quick Questions

Which deity or Buddha is worshipped at the Bayon

The Bayon was built in the late 12th to early 13th century by King Jayavarman VII as a Mahayana Buddhist state temple dedicated to the Buddha (centered on a 3.6-meter sandstone statue of the Buddha meditating beneath the Naga king Mucalinda) and the Bodhisattva of compassion Avalokiteshvara (Lokesvara). Briefly converted to Shaivite Hinduism in the mid-13th century under Jayavarman VIII, it became a Theravada Buddhist sanctuary from the 14th century onward.

How many towers and stone faces does the Bayon have

Many travel guides cite a theoretical total of 54 towers and 216 faces (multiplying 54 by 4). However, architectural surveys by Maurice Glaize and the Japanese conservation team (JSA) show that the monument had 49 towers at its ancient peak (some carved with only two or three faces), and today 37 face-towers remain standing with approximately 200 recognizable stone faces.

Who do the smiling stone faces on the Bayon towers represent

George Coedès and the majority of art historians interpret the faces as a synthesis of the Bodhisattva of compassion Avalokiteshvara (Lokesvara) gazing toward all four directions to protect sentient beings and the likeness of King Jayavarman VII himself as a Buddhist sovereign. Other scholars note that the four-faced tower form also adapts the classical four-faced iconography of the Hindu god Brahma.

How do the bas-reliefs of the Bayon differ from those of Angkor Wat

Whereas the bas-reliefs of Angkor Wat depict Hindu mythological epics such as the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, the outer gallery of the Bayon portrays historical events and vivid scenes of everyday 12th-century Khmer life, including open-air markets, cooking, cockfighting, board games, hunting, childbirth, and boats on the Tonle Sap Lake.

Why did traditional Vietnamese speakers call Angkor Thom and the Bayon Đế Thích

In the traditional Vietnamese double name Đế Thiên Đế Thích for the Angkor complex, Đế Thiên referred to Angkor Wat while Đế Thích referred to Angkor Thom and the Bayon. Đế Thích is the Sino-Vietnamese name for the Vedic god Indra, matching the Sanskrit etymology of the name Bayon (derived from Vaijayanta, the celestial palace of Indra reflected on earth).