ALL SEEING

ALL SEEING

The inner gallery is nearly filled by the upper terrace, raised one level higher again. On this level, the visitor is surrounded by face towers, each with two, three or (most commonly) four of the famous smiling faces. Glaize wrote that, "On the upper terrace, mystery reigns. Wherever one wanders, the faces of Lokesvara follow and dominate with their multiple presence, always countered by the overwhelming mass of the central core." The towers are located along the inner gallery (at the corners and entrances), and on chapels on the upper terrace. Additional faces are carved on the central tower. Despite efforts to find significance in the number of towers and faces, the numbers varied from time to time as more towers were added: at one point there were up to 49 towers, although only 37 now remain. There are around 200 faces, but as some are only partially preserved there can be no definitive count.

Like the inner gallery, the central massif was originally cruciform but was later filled out, this time making it circular. It rises 43 metres above the ground. The original Buddha image from the central shrine was removed and smashed by Jayavarman VIII, but has now been restored and is displayed in a pavilion to the northeast of the temple.