Angkor Thom West Gate

Angkor Thom West Gate (also recorded as Ta Kav Gate, TaKaov, Thvear Ta Keo) is one of the five ancient gates allowing entry into Angkor Thom. The other gates are the South Gate (Thvear Tonle Om), North Gate (Thvear Ta Nok), Victory Gate (Thvear Chey), and East Gate (Gate of the Dead or Thvear Khnoch).

It is similar to the other gates, featuring the massive entry gopura with smiling faces similar to those of the Bayon temple, which was fronted by a causeway crossing the moat featuring a naga balustrade with 54 Asuras and Devas lining each side. Like the others, it also featured large laterite “spurs” jutting out from the outer wall on either side of the gateway. For more detail on the features generic to Angkor Thom’s gates and illustrated restitutions, see South Gate (Thvear Tonle Om).

For some time the west gate had been one of the most ruinous of the five gates and rarely visited. That is likely to change with a long-running restoration program nearly complete (late 2022) and a newly sealed road now leading to the site.

Many discoveries were made during the restoration works including several of the heads and torso of the stone giants belonging to the causeway found, part of the causeway was revealed to have been constructed from sandstone blocks recycled from another prior temple, internal wooden support beams contemporary to the construction of the temple were uncovered, and most incredibly, a sacred deposit stone (noted in some reports as a boundary stone) with gold sheet was found.

According to reporting by the local Khmer news site, Thmey Thmey, quite wonderfully the restoration works were led by an all-female team of local archeologists and architects with financial support from the Heng Development Co.  

Update 2023 – restoration works at the site are mostly complete and it’s fast becoming a popular spot for selfies, and the selective clearance of trees has opened up beautiful views of the smiling faces from either side of the wall. The site is also quite fascinating for its different moody scenes it offers up as the sunsets in the distance.

Images from 2020 at the beginning of restoration works

Images from 09-10/2022 with restoration nearly complete.

The basement molding is quite interesting, and unique from the other four gates, noting that several different styles of banding decoration are used, in the styles of the early 11th through to 12th century. The other gates, at least what can still be seen, appear to all use a uniform band of roundels inset with personages. Whilst the five gates are typically dated to the era of Jayavarman VII and the late 12th century, then would seem possible that there may have been an existing structure here or recycling of masonry used to create what we see today. As reported by APSARA, recycled masonry is certainly seen in the causeway itself.

Images from 08/04/23 – 17/04/23

Post the wonderful restoration works, the site is fast becoming a popular spot for selfies and an alternative sunset and sunrise spot. You can follow a trail up either side of the wall for splendid views of the stunning smiling faces.