The Baphuon is a temple at Angkor, Cambodia. It is located in Angkor Thom, northwest of the Bayon. Baphuon is part of the Angkor Small Circuit, which takes you to all the “must-see” temples in Angkor. It is located within the Angkor Thom complex approximately 200m northwest of Prasat Bayon. The sandstone monument that was dedicated to Shiva is in the shape of a stepped pyramid.
The Baphuon temple is the prototype for the Baphuon style of design which covers every available surface with intricate carvings. These carvings include both realistic and fanciful depictions of lotus flowers, wild animals and hunters, devata figures, and men in battle. There are also carvings with indirect references to Hindu mythology and scenes illustrating epic poems such as the Ramayana. The sandstone temple-mountain symbolically represents the sacred five-peaked Mount Meru important in both Hindu and Buddhist cosmology. There are three enclosures in the Baphuon temple complex, and the main structure is situated on a high base. With the bronze tower that was part of the original structure it would have been roughly 50 meters high, but without this tower it stands 34 meters tall.