Angkor Thom: Totem of Power of the Khmer Empire

Travel through the Millennial Royal City under the gaze of 216 Buddha faces 🏛️ Chronicle of the Royal City's Construction (1181-1218) Jayavarman VII's Imperial Declaration: ▸ A 9-square-kilometer royal city, three times the size of Paris during the same period ▸ 300,000 laborers employed, taking 37 years to complete ▸ Architectural Language: Hindu Cosmology × Buddhist Philosophy of Compassion City Passwords: 54 stone statues = 54 provinces of the empire The axes of the 5 city gates correspond to the orbits of the five planets The 8-meter-high city wall coincides with the Bagua calendar 🕍 Bayon Temple: Political Rhetoric under the Visage of Bodhisattva The truth behind the 216 Buddha faces: Modeled after Jayavarman VII himself, the curvature of the smile was optically calculated (to ensure visibility throughout the city) 📜 Historical Trivia Urban Design: The moat represents the Milky Ocean, and the temple complex forms a cosmic star chart Black Technology: The drainage system is precise to the millimeter, preventing flooding for millennia Modern Sorrow: A landmine victims' orchestra often performs at the Bayon Temple 💀 Apocalypse of Decline Chain reactions after the Siamese conquest in 1431: The priestly class fled to Angkor Wat and converted to Hinduism, hydraulic experts were taken to Sukhothai, and descendants of construction craftsmen recreated the flying Apsaras reliefs in Bagan, Myanmar. "These collapsed colonnades were once the spine of the empire. We count the cracks as if turning the pages of a worm-eaten history book."