Angkor Thom

Angkor Thom, meaning "Great City," was the last capital of the Khmer Empire. This enormous walled city, covering nine square kilometers, was home to an estimated one million people at its peak — making it one of the largest cities in the medieval world, far surpassing contemporary London or Paris. The city is entered through five monumental gates, each crowned with four faces and approached by a spectacular causeway lined with 54 gods on one side and 54 demons on the other, reenacting the Hindu creation myth of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk. The South Gate, best preserved and most visited, creates one of the most iconic photo opportunities in all of Angkor. At the center stands the Bayon Temple with its enigmatic face towers. The royal palace compound, though the wooden buildings have long disappeared, still impresses with the Phimeanakas step pyramid where the king performed sacred rituals, and the majestic Terrace of the Elephants — a 350-meter-long platform adorned with carved elephants and garudas, used as a royal viewing gallery for ceremonies in the great plaza below. The Terrace of the Leper King, with its remarkable hidden wall of carved figures, the massive Baphuon temple (painstakingly reassembled over 50 years), and numerous smaller temples and ponds complete this extraordinary urban landscape. Angkor Thom demonstrates the ambition and organizational power of the Khmer Empire at the height of its glory.