Making faces

The north face of tower 64 at Banteay Chhmar

Tower 64 at Banteay Chhmar is located in the western complex at the site and experts suggest its function was as a library, crowned by a lotus and containing praying figures in each corner and above the faces, though only three faces now survive. Banteay Chhmar itself is only slightly smaller than the city of Angkor Thom and the main complex is surrounded by a moat, though the original enclosure also contains a baray and nine other temples, as well as a dharmasala rest-house. The main complex covers an area of five hectares bounded by a rectangular gallery, which is richly decorated in carving. It was built in the early 13th century as a funerary temple for Jayavarman VII's son. Today the temple is a veritable jumble of ruins and the easiest way of moving around is usually on gallery roofs and over the larger piles of collapsed stone. This provides a good opportunity to photograph the face towers and pediments at close range.

Above: Tower 64 was originally a library located in the western complex of Banteay Chhmar

Above: This picture of the west face of tower 64 shows the praying figures above the face and to the left

The enigmatic smile of the west face of tower 64

A full frontal view of tower 64's north face

The east face at tower 64 is hard to distinguish and looks a candidate for collapse in the future