One of Cambodia's Mysteries:
The Bayon Temple

Introduction:

Deep in the jungle of Cambodia, not far from the north shore of the great in-land lake of Tonle Sap, the French naturalist Henry Mouhot was led by local people to a place where lay the massive temple remains of the ancient Khmer people. Many temples and religious structures were hidden under dirt mounds and overgrown with vegetation, others were meshed with great roots of trees destroying sections while embracing other sections in place, still other temples were quite intact; all under the canopy of the jungle, hidden and almost forgotten to the world.1 That was in 1860. Two years later his journals were reviewed by the Royal Geographic Society, while he was dead the previous year in Luang Prabang (Laos), of malaria. The Society, which sponsored Mouhot's exploration for natural survey, found great interest in the detailed writings and sketches of his journals and its publications exposed Angkor Wat to the rest of the world.

This place is near a town name Siem Riep, and is generally called Angkor Wat, a collective name for a vast area once was home for over one million people. No other city in the 11th century can support that kind of demography. The people not only successfully developed an extensive and highly sophisticated net work of canals, dykes, massive water reservoirs (barays), and water distribution systems, but also built many temples. Not just any ordinary temples, but magnificent ones, range from very large to small. The ones that are still around today are made of highly durable materials, mainly stones. Other structures and dwellings were made of light materials of wood and tiles, some were destroyed by rival neighbors, and all are lost in time and to the elements. The scale at which some of these were built is overwhelming and mind-boggling. Totally unexpected in sheer size and imensity, nothing can prepare a person for coming face to face with, and to experience these structures. A picture may worth a thousand words, but to behold a Khmer masterpiece and feel the presence of the forces is speechless. At close-range, the details carved into stone exude the deftness of artisans and the skills of master builders. It leaves one to wonder about the people whose hands tamed and graced these stones, the people whose belief so strong, and whose societal organization so highly effective.

Table of Contents
Cambodia: The Setting
	Geography, Climate, Culture
	Pre-History to the 8th Century
	9th to 12th Century
	12th to 14th Century
	The Khmer Decline
The Tangible Bayon
	Level One
	Level Two
	Level Three
Selected Bibliography

See 3D Reconstructing and Imaging of the Bayon Temple, courtesy of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing,
Institute of Geodesy and Photogrammetry, Zurich, Switzerland.

See Angkor Area from space, via SIR-C radar image, courtesy of Athena Review--
Journal of Archaeology, History, and Exploration.

This paper was written for the History of East Asian Art class at Sacramento City College,
instructed by Mr. Daubert, Spring 2000.