Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
First level
From the top of the steps above the Terrace of Honour, further steps head up into the
third enclosure (which is also the first level of the temple pyramid), bare save for two
libraries in the northwest and southwest corners.
Linking the third and second enclosures is the so-called Cruciform Cloister , with
four deep (but dry) pools in the centre and galleries to either side. That on the west
side is known as the Gallery of a Thousand Buddhas , which once housed a vast
collection of Buddhas collected over recent centuries when Angkor Wat was a
Buddhist monastery; many were taken away for safe-keeping in 1970, while those
that remained were later destroyed by the Khmer Rouge, though today a few
modern images have taken their place. The gallery on the opposite side is the
so-called Chamber of Echoes . Cambodians stand here with their backs to the wall
and thump their chests with their fists, thrice, to bring good fortune. Surrounding
the cloister is a gallery with a frieze of apsaras above and seated ascetics carved at
the bases of the columns below. Many of the columns also bear Sanskrit and
Khmer inscriptions.
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Second and third levels
he second level of the pyramid is enclosed by a gallery with windows opening on the
courtyard within, whose walls are carved with a remarkable collection of more than
1500 apsaras , each unique. Elegantly dressed, these beautiful creatures display exotic
hairstyles and enigmatic expressions; even their jewellery is lovingly sculpted. These are
the earliest depictions in Angkorian art of apsaras in groups, some posed in twos or
threes, arms linked and hands touching.
During the time of Suryavarman II, only the high priest and the king were allowed to
visit the third level , but now visitors can make the ascent - although there's usually a
bit of a queue to climb the steep, ladder-like staircase to the top, and you'll need a
decent head for heights.
Phnom Bakheng
The first state temple to be built in the Angkor area, the temple-mountain of PHNOM
BAKHENG was commissioned by Yasovarman I after he had moved the capital here
from nearby Roluos. Dedicated in 907, it originally lay at the heart of Yasovarman's
new moated city of Yasodharapura, covering an area of some four square kilometres
(parts of the moat are still visible along the road from Siem Reap, 600m before Angkor
Wat). The temple itself isn't the most riveting monument in Angkor, despite its
historical significance, but is worth a visit if only for the magnificent view from its
summit: west over the West Baray, southeast to Angkor Wat, south to the Tonle Sap
and northeast to Phnom Kulen.
The temple pyramid comprises five levels, built around a natural 67m-high hill, with
steps and terraces hewn into the rock and then clad in sandstone; 44 small towers are
dotted around its base, with another sixty arranged around the terraces above (twelve
on each level), plus five principal towers at the top arranged, for the first time in
Khmer architecture, in a quincunx to symbolize the five peaks of Mount Meru. The
temple was consecrated to Shiva and the central tower would have contained a linga,
now lost.
PHNOM BAKHENG SUNSET ASCENT
In the late afternoon, hundreds of tourists make the trek up the steep, badly eroded rock-hewn
steps of Phnom Bakheng to watch the sun set over Angkor Wat . You don't have to walk,
however: between 3 and 5pm elephants wait at the foot of the hill to ferry visitors up via a
roundabout track ($20); downhill trips ($15) run between 5pm and 6pm.
 
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