Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Banteay Samre is unique among the Angkor temples in having
two moats
within
the complex itself. The temple, enclosed by a high laterite wall with cruciform
gopuras at each of the cardinal points, is approached via a 200m-long paved
causeway. Entering through the east gopura, you arrive in an open gallery whose
rows of sandstone columns were once part of a roofed gallery that would have run
the full perimeter of the enclosure. The paved sunken area ahead was once the first
of the moats, forming the second enclosure. Tales from the
Ramayana
are depicted
on various
carvings
here - the siege of Lanka is shown on the gopura pediments, the
fight between Rama and Ravana on the east tower, and Rama carried by Hanuman
on the north tower.
Crossing the moat, you pass through another gopura, with double vestibules to the
north and south, the passages of which connect to a raised gallery separating the two
moats. Rising out of the inner moat like islands are the
central sanctuary
, connected to
the walkway via a gopura to the east, and two
libraries
, which would only have been
reachable by boat when the moats were filled.
3
Cambodia Landmine Museum
7km south of Banteay Srei on the main road to Siem Reap • Daily 7.30am-5.30pm • $3 •
T
015 674163,
W
cambodialandmine
museum.org
South of Banteay Srei temple, the
Cambodia Landmine Museum
is the creation of Aki
Ra, a self-taught de-miner who was once forced to lay mines as a Vietnamese conscript.
Crammed full of rusting mines and other military paraphernalia, the museum offers a
stark reminder of the ongoing devastation caused by mines both in Cambodia and
elsewhere (see p.297), describing some of the historical background and human stories
behind these deadly explosives. Museum profits go to support local mine victims.
Banteay Srei
Even if you're feeling pretty templed-out, you'll probably be captivated by
BANTEAY
SREI
, 35km northeast of Siem Reap (and which can be conveniently combined in a
single day-trip with Kbal Spean). Built of fine-grained rose-pink sandstone, it's the
most elaborately decorated of all Angkor's monuments, its walls, false doors, lintels and
exotic soaring pediments all richly embellished with floral motifs and
Ramayana
scenes.
Banteay Srei is also unusual in having been built not by a king, but by two local
dignitaries
: Yajnavaraha, who was a trusted guru to the monarch, and his brother. It
was Rajendravarman who granted them the land and permission for a temple to be
built, but although the sanctuary was consecrated in 967 to Shiva, it wasn't actually
completed until the reign of Jayavarman V.
The site
he temple
layout
is relatively simple, with three enclosing walls, an inner moat and a
row of three sanctuary towers at its centre. If the
eastern gopura
by which you enter
the temple seems oddly stranded, that's because there was never an enclosing wall here.
Note the very fine carving above the exterior of the gopura's east door, showing the god
Indra
squatting on his three-headed elephant Airavata.
From the eastern gopura, a paved
processional way
leads 75m west to the main
temple complex. Around the midway point, a pavilion to the north boasts a
particularly detailed engraved pediment showing Vishnu in his incarnation as the
man-lion Narasimha. Just before you reach the gopura in the third enclosing wall,
you'll find a carved pediment (lying upright on the ground to the right of the doorway)
showing Sita swooning as she is abducted by Ravana. The
gopura
itself is one of the
most dramatic at the site, with soaring finials and the carved scrolls of fine leaf
decorations and floral motifs.
