Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
eastern gopura , decorated with fine carvings depicting the life of the Buddha. Beyond
here is the impressive terrace that formerly supported the buildings of the Hall of
Dancers (similar to that at Banteay Kdei).
The main section
Walking across the terrace beyond the eastern gopura brings you to the main section of
the temple - comprising a large third enclosure within which are the more tightly
packed first and second enclosures, the entire edifice topped by a ba ing profusion of
small towers (39 in total) in various states of photogenic decay. Some of the most
photographed trees in the world lie further in, scattered inside the second and first
enclosures - usually complete with long queues of visitors waiting for their chance to
have themselves snapped posing among the roots.
The remains of richly decorated walls and various apsaras survive within the first
enclosure , almost as if nature has compensated for the overall destruction by preserving
the details. At the heart of the temple is the surprisingly tiny central sanctuary , now
bare inside, although small holes in the walls indicate that it was once clad in wood or
metal panels.
From here it's worth continuing straight ahead and out onto the western side of the
temple, then retracing your way back around the northern side of the third enclosure,
normally relatively peaceful even in peak hour, where further giant kapok trees can be
seen hugging the temple walls, with nothing but untouched forest beyond.
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Banteay Kdei
BANTEAY KDEI (Citadel of the Cells) was built by Jayavarman VII as a Buddhist
monastery over the site of an earlier tenth-century temple by Rajendravarman. The
overall layout is similar to Ta Prohm, although the buildings here remained in fairly
continual use until the 1960s and so lack the lost-in-the-jungle atmosphere that makes
Ta Prohm so memorable - and, equally, the appalling crowds. That said, ongoing
habitation failed to prevent some pretty major masonry collapses, perhaps due to a
combination of low-quality sandstone and poor building techniques - the most
vulnerable sections are now propped up with permanent wooden struts and scaffolding.
Entrance is from the east, through the enclosing wall beneath a fine gopura topped
with Lokesvara faces. A few minutes' walk brings you to the remains of a laterite
causeway across a moat, connecting to the Hall of the Dancers , named for the reliefs of
apsaras that decorate its pillars and exterior walls.
Immediately beyond the Hall of the Dancers is the temple proper, comprising a
central sanctuary surrounded by two concentric galleries and topped by seven closely
grouped towers - although the confusing jumble of tiny rooms and courtyards, and
myriad collapsed walls, rather obscures the basic plan. Beautiful carvings survive here
and there among the ruins, including elaborate leaf motifs on the walls and female
divinities in niches - although many of the monastery's Buddha images have been
crudely hacked out.
Srah Srang
East of Banteay Kdei, the royal bathing pool of Srah Srang was probably the work of
Kavindramantha, an army-general-cum-architect who was also responsible for building
the temples of East Mebon and Pre Rup. Excavated for Rajendravarman I, the pool once
had simple earth embankments, and rules had to be issued to stop people allowing
elephants to clamber over them to be bathed in the waters below. Two hundred years
later, Jayavarman VII had the banks lined with sandstone and built a regal terrace offering
views over the water. The remains of a paved causeway edged with naga balustrades,
which once linked the pool with Banteay Kdei to the west, can also be seen here.
 
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