Bayon Temple, Cambodia - Temple, Park, Scenic Beauty

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The Bayon Temple is at the centre of the great walled metropolis of Angkor Thom, which is at the heart of the Angkor Archeological Park. Bayon has some 50 towers, with four colossal engraved faces on most of them. Each of the four faces is four metres high and oriented toward the four directions of the compass. The faces all have the same strange smile and closed eyes, creating a mystifying and serene countenance, representing an all-knowing state of inner peace, and conceivably a state of Nirvana. Bayon was built as Jayavarman VII's state-temple, and it represents the stature of his mammoth building program.