KOREA FOUNDATION

If you travel 300 kilometers upriver from Phnom Penh and cross the lake Tonle Sap, you will find yourself in Angkor Thom, Siem Reap. In Khmer, “Angkor” means city and “Thom” has the meaning of great, giving the ancient capital a most fitting moniker. The city was founded at the beginning of the 13th century by King Jayavarman VII and served as the capital until the Khmer Empire collapsed in the 15th century. Its 9 km² structure, surrounded by the city walls forming a perfect square, is evidence of the Khmer Empire’s considerable architectural skill.

Zhou Daguan, who visited the city in the 13th century as an envoy from the Yuan Dynasty, wrote that there was a golden pagoda standing at its center. According to his records, there were 20 stone pagodas and stone chambers around the golden pagoda, which today are known as “Bayon.” This name supposed to be named so by French colonizers in the 19th century, but their original name was “Jayagiri,” which means “mountain of victory.” After King Jayavarman VII defeated the Vietnamese kingdom of Champa in battle, Angkor Thom and the Bayon were constructed to celebrate the glory of the king.

On the sandstone pagodas there are four engraved faces, greeting all visitors to Angkor Thom with their gentle smile. With almost no extant records of the Khmer Empire, we cannot know for sure who they are. Some believe they are Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion; others the face of King Jayavarman VII. But whatever their true identity, we are only left to imagine the glory of the old Khmer Empire as we gaze upon these great structures.