Angkor Thom
Date: Late 12th century and later (excluding some earlier monuments inside, such as the Bapuon and Phimeanakas)
Style: Bayon (excluding some earlier monuments inside)
Visit: Several hours (see entries for individual monuments)
This, one of the largest of all Khmer cities, was founded by Jayavaraman VII and probably remained the capital until the 17th century. For most visitors, the first sight of this monumental construction is the magnificent S Gate, with its towers with four faces pointing in each of the cardinal directions and elephants, preceded by the no less impressive avenue of gods and asuras lining the bridge across the moat.
Angkor Thom overlaps the SE corner of the first capital of Yasodharapura (end of 9th century), and incorporates temple of previous centuries, notably Bapuon and Phimeanakas. And, as it remained the capital of Jayavarman's successors, there are many later additions and some re-modelling. Its name which dates at least from the 16th century, appropriately enough, mean 'Great City'.
Plan
The city walls, surrounded by a moat, enclose a square, approximately 3km on each side. The total area, therefore, is 900 hectares, most of it now forest but originally a considerable city. These walls are pierced by four gates at the cardinal points, and the roads that pass through them converge on the central State Temple of Jayavarman VII, the Bayon. A 5th gate, known as the Victory Gate, pierces the E wall of the city 500m N of the E Gate, and its road leads directly to the Royal Palace (by tradition, the palace was always sited N of the State Temple).
Visit
The usual approach is from the S, passing through the S Gate and on to the Bayon in the exact centre of the city. There are, however, so many other monuments, most of them in the area N of the Bayon, that a single visit is rarely sufficient. Moreover, temple in the N, NE and E of the Angkor region are usually reached by driving through Angkor Thom, so that many people stop off at monuments inside the city while passing through. Because of this, individual monuments are dealt with separately in this guide in the following pages.
The S Gate
On the road from Angkor Wat and Siem Reap, this is the first point of entry to the city for most visitors. All five gates are similar, but the S Gate has been the most extensively restored and is the most complete. Constant use has helped to save the statues of gods and asuras that line its approach; most of the heads at the other gates have been stolen, and only the N Gate retains a number of complete figures.
The approach to the gate, crossing the moat, is lined by an avenue of statues. On the left and on the right, two rows of figures each carry the body of a giant serpent-- a seven-headed naga -- almost in the attitude of a tug-of-war. The figures on the left are gods, while those on the right, with fierce grimaces, are asuras (demons). The parallels with Churning of the Sea of Milk, particularly as sculpted on the gallery of Angkor Wat, are obvious; even the headdresses are the same. The question then remains, where is the actual churning taking place, with Mount Mandara as the pivot? The most likely focus is the State Temple of the city itself-- the Bayon. Support for this theory is the absence of enclosing wall and moat around the Bayon, suggesting that the walls of the city and its moat take their place. If so, this is a grand conception of religious symbolism, covering an entire city.
The symbolism does not stop there, however. the use of naga balustrades lining the approach to a temple and usually across a moat was common, and it is believed that the purpose was to link the world of men (outside the temple) to the world of the gods (inside). According to George Coedes and Paul Mus, such 'naga bridges' correspond to a rainbow, which provides the same function in Hindu traditions. So, even with tradition of gods and asuras, the approach to the gate of Angkor Thom are 'naga Bridge'. Another suggestion is that the nagas are the guardians of the city's royal wealth.