BAPHÛON

Built around 1060 by the ruler Udayadityavarman II in honor of the god Shiva, this temple-mountain lies to the northwest of the Bayon, just before the Royal Palace. The five-storey pyramid is 34 metres high and made of 300,000 stone blocks (each weighing 500 kg!). A real feat both for the architects of the time and the workers on site. It was once called Svarnadri, "the mountain of gold"; it is assumed that each of the bas-reliefs depicting the Ramayana epic was covered with copper or gold plates, so that the Baphuon would resemble Mount Meru, the mythical mountain representing the center of the universe. In the sanctuary at the top of the building was a linga, probably made of gold. The temple subsequently underwent a number of modifications, the best-known and most visible of which was the transformation of the temple's entire western facade in order to carve a giant reclining Buddha, probably in the ^15th century.

The architects of the time are to blame for the fact that not much is visible today. Numerous defects marred the construction. The main one: the artificial hill that supports the whole structure is made of sand, making the base extremely unstable. French archaeologist B.-P. Groslier decided to dismantle the temple block by block and rebuild it once the foundations had solidified: an anastylosis that was to last 10 years. The Khmer Rouge interrupted the work, and the records of the 300,000 stone blocks, which had been piled up in the jungle not far from the site, were lost. It wasn't until 1995 and a little computer genius that all these large stones were put back into place, thanks to a revolutionary piece of software. The idea was to propose a model of the temple that took into account every piece found by the archaeologists, and was capable of analyzing archival photos. Archaeologists were thus able to create a gigantic 3D jigsaw puzzle on a computer, to better understand the challenges of this extraordinary restoration. In 2011, Cambodian workers from the Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient completed a titanic renovation project to restore the Montagne d'Or. This temple is definitely a must-see on any visit to Angkor Thom: not only are the magnificent bas-reliefs (mainly of animals and the Ramayana) still visible, as well as the silhouette of the Reclining Buddha, but above all because tourist groups hardly ever stop here. Once at the top of the pyramid, the view is splendid and the calm precious.