Jayavarman VII builds the Bayon

1197

At the geometric center of his newly constructed capital Angkor Thom, the Khmer king Jayavarman VII raised the Bayon - a man-made mountain of stone carved with over two hundred enormous serene faces gazing outward in every direction, each wearing the same faint and enigmatic smile. The Buddhist temple, utterly unlike anything built before or since in human architecture, remains the most mysterious monument in all of Southeast Asian history.