Terrace of the elephants

Terrace of the Elephants

This is 300 meters long and runs North immediately after the east entrance of the Baphoun as far as the Leper King. There are five projecting stairways symmetrically placed; three in the center, and the other two at either end. The central stairway is the largest. Like the South gate of the city, the staircase is flanked by three-headed elephants with their three trunks pulling lotuses from the ground, and also supported by the mythical lions and garudas, represent the heavens or palace.

This long terrace at the heart of Angkor Thom served as the Royal reception in that period. Once in a while when the king has delegations from other countries, the king and his top officials would greet the delegations on the terrace.

Tips: If you want to see the five-headed horses symmetrically carved please walk on the top of the terrace to the last projecting stairway in the north, and walk down by a small stairs.

The Terrace of Leper King

The Terrace is named after the statue called the 'Leper King'. He is is in a naked sitting position with one knee down and another one up, and normally surrounded with the chevron robe represented the Buddha. Chinese records suggest that at least one of the Khmer kings in the Angkor period was suffering from leprosy. The truth is that it was a type of skin disease fom which the King fully recovered and lead his soldiers to successfully liberate Angkor Thom from the Cham’s occupation in 1181. The King was Jayavarman VII.Another theory says that the statue sitting on the top of the terrace is Yama, God of death and justice. He’s sitting here in his function to judge the spirits of the people after death because people think that this terrace, in the ancient time, served as the crematorium.Actually, the Terrace of the Leper King represents the Mythical Mount Meru, the sacred place of the Gods and demons. The Hindu says that there are two mounts Meru; one in the sky and one underground. The classical Khmer architectures could build mount Meru underground but could not build the one in the sky with nothing underneath, so in order to have the two mounts they built both on the ground with two walls, same carving decorations. The outer walls represent the mount Meru in the sky, while the inside one is the one underground.The carvings on the interior walls are better preserved than the carvings on the outer walls; protected from the elements. Both the Terraces of the Elephant and the Leper King were built by Jayavarman VII in late of 12th century, and restored by the French “EFEO” after the discovery in the middle of 19th century.