Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
PREAH KHAN
0
40
metres
Double storey
Building
1st Enclosing
Wall
Hall of
Dancers
Libraries
Central Sanctuary
N
3
2nd Enclosing
Wall
3rd Enclosing Wall
Sanctuaries
Galleried Walkways
The site
The layout of the temple is similar to that of Banteay Kdei and Ta Prohm - indeed
there's a distinct touch of Ta Prohm about the site as a whole, with tumbled heaps of
greenish, lichen-coated sandstone half-smothered by the surrounding trees. Large
portions of the structure have collapsed. As at Banteay Kdei, this may have been the
result of faulty construction - the central area, closely packed with sanctuaries and
passages, was extended on numerous occasions.
Most people now approach from the west (which is how we describe it below),
although you can also enter in the traditional direction from the east; or (even better)
walk from one side to the other and arrange to be picked up by your driver on the
opposite side to save backtracking.
The entire complex is surrounded by an enclosing wall and moat, with the usual
gopuras and causeways in each cardinal direction. Approaching from the west, the first
section of the path (near the car park) is lined with interesting
boundary stones
, their
lower halves carved with cartoonish
kala
-like monsters - the niches at the top of each
pillar once contained Buddha images, which were crudely cut out when the state religion
reverted to Hinduism. Beyond here the path crosses a causeway flanked by impressive
naga balustrades before reaching the main temple complex after around 250m.
Entering through the gopura here brings you into the tranquil
third enclosure
decorated with beautifully carved apsaras in niches. Beyond here lie the dense cluster of
buildings within the tightly packed
second
and
first enclosures
(an intricate design
further confused by large-scale masonry falls), with views of doors and windows framed
within one another in receding, Escheresque perspectives. Patches of fine floral carving
cover many of the walls and surfaces, as if in imitation of the natural vegetation
consuming the buildings on all sides. Also dotted around here are more than twenty
tiny sanctuaries that once contained holy images, while more would have been housed
in the alcoves of the surrounding gallery.
At the heart of the temple, the
central sanctuary
contains a dome-shaped
stupa
,
added in the sixteenth century. More tricky to find in a collapsed section to the
