September 4, 2007

Bayon

Bayon was built in the late 12th century as the official state temple of Jayavarman VII. The faces resemble the King but also look a little bit like Buddha.










Before they can reconstruct anything they have to figure out where each and every block goes. Its like the largest jigsaw puzzle in the world.














A cool gate.


This is the bath for the women of the palace. Beyond is the bath for the men. The women's pool is three times larger than the men's pool. Why? Because the King had over 250 concubines. It's good to be King.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Andrew:
When was the palace built? It kind of looks like the sphinx. It is a very neat place, I would be afraid rocks would fall on you.
Mum

Andrew said...

about 800 years ago. I'm pretty sure the people that are reconstructing the temples are good enough structural engineers that the know which parts are unstable. Some parts of the temples you aren't allowed to go into, so the seem to know which parts are safe and which aren't.