Facing danger

The sole remaining face on tower 70 at Banteay Chhmar faces south

The magnificent face towers at Banteay Chhmar are in a precarious state. This was amply demonstrated in 2004 when tower 73 and its two remaining faces fell to the floor of the temple. Other towers are in severe danger too. One such tower is the one shown here, tower 70, the southwest corner tower of the western complex at the site. There is only one face remaining on tower 70 and as you can see it is already ill-defined and lacks the clarity of most of the other faces on show at Banteay Chhmar. The tower itself has already suffered much collapse and looks unsteady on its remaining feet. In total there are 13 faces still to be seen at the temple on five towers. There is argument amongst the experts on the original number of face towers at the site, though some hypothesise that as many as 45 may have existed if you include the satellite temples that surround the main complex. I will reveal more of the faces in additional posts but I wanted to highlight that Banteay Chhmar is a temple in great danger. It has been plundered without restraint over many years, and this has left the remaining structure in imminent danger. Without a serious attempt to halt and reverse this, a magnificent temple and its enigmatic faces may be in danger of being lost forever.

A look at the precarious corner tower that is tower 70 at Banteay Chhmar