Bayon Temple

This guide to the Bayon Temple in Siem Reap traces the sound of restoration returning in 1994, when Japan agreed to help save the crumbling northern library. It follows King Jayavarman the Seventh, who raised the temple's fifty-four towers and its serene stone faces in the late twelfth century, believed by many to bear his own likeness. From there it turns to the decades-long Japanese-Cambodian partnership, guided by Waseda University, that has kept the stone standing since. Look up at the tower directly above you as you listen.