The Terrace of the Elephants is a 350-metre-long platform along the eastern edge of the Angkor Thom Royal Palace compound, built by Jayavarman VII in the late 12th century. It was used as a grandstand from which the king and his court would review military processions, ceremonies, and public spectacles on the open square below. The terrace's balustrades are carved with a continuous frieze of life-size elephants at work — in war, in the hunt, and in ceremony — which gives the terrace its name and makes it one of the most immediately readable carvings at Angkor.
At the northern end, the terrace transitions into the Terrace of the Leper King, a smaller platform named after a seated statue found on top (now in the National Museum in Phnom Penh; a replica stands in place). The Leper King terrace is notable for its hidden inner terrace wall: you can walk into a narrow trench between two carved walls, the inner one hidden when the outer was built over it. Both terraces are easily reached from the Bayon and are typically included in any Angkor Thom circuit.