| Four large gates topped by a tower -
gopura -
mark the entrance to Angkor Thom. A fifth
gopura was built for the entrance to the
city on the road that leads to the royal
palace. Each of the 23 metres high sandstone towers is decorated with a face in
the four cardinal directions. The best preserved faces may be seen at the
western gopura.
The faces represent Lord Brahma.
|
A
three-headed elephant holding a lotus flower in each trunk, supports the
tower base. The proportion of their openings (3.50 metres wide by 7 metres high) is
distorted by the absence of lintels or frontons. Originally they would
also have been furnished with double wooden doors, mounted on pivots,
which were apparently fitted with a horizontal closing bar, the holes for
which still remain visible in the walls.
|
