The Bayon stands at the exact geometric centre of Angkor Thom, Jayavarman VII's great walled city. It is one of the most extraordinary buildings in the world: a mountain of towers, each carved with four enormous serene faces gazing to the four compass points, so that from a distance the structure seems to bristle with eyes. At its height the temple had 54 towers bearing 216 faces in total — a deliberate number, matching the 54 provinces of the Khmer empire and the 54 gods and demons who churn the cosmic ocean in Hindu mythology.
The Bayon rewards time. The outer gallery's bas-reliefs are unusual in that they mix mythological scenes with historical documentary — naval battles, armies on the march, court scenes, and extraordinary depictions of everyday 12th-century life: women cooking, fishermen with their catch, men playing chess. The upper terrace, where the face-towers cluster most densely, is best in the early morning light when the shadows deepen the carved features and the crowds are thin. It is a genuinely eerie place, and one of the few buildings in the world that makes you feel you are being watched from every direction simultaneously.