Baphuon Temple, Angkor Thom, Cambodia by Glen David Short

Baphuon Temple, Angkor Thom, Cambodia, photographed 28th May 2011, at around 1.30pm (side view). This amazing stone edifice, originally a Hindu temple to Shiva, lay in ruins until only recently, Cambodia's civil war delaying restoration during the latter 20th century. In fact, the stop/start restoration took 51 years, being completed only a few months before this gigapan was shot. A chronicle by the Chinese envoy Zhou Daguan, who visited in 1296 A.D., enigmatically described it as a "Tower of Bronze".