Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
when they first arrived at Angkor. Locals claim that the temple was quite well preserved
until being looted by the Khmer Rouge, although the pioneering French archeologist
Maurice Glaize reported it being collapsed in 1944. Whichever history you believe,
Beng Mealea is still relatively unexplored and atmospheric. Be aware of the possible
danger of land mines, however - the site itself has been cleared, but it's best not to stray
into the undergrowth.
It isn't known exactly when or why the temple was built, though stylistic features
suggest that its construction probably dates from the late eleventh or early twelfth
century, possibly during the reign of Suryavarman II. Just over a kilometre square, with
a formidable 45m-wide moat, the site was clearly of some consequence, and it has been
suggested that the temple was built as a precursor to Angkor Wat. Constructed on a
single level, the temple once featured three concentric galleries and a central sanctuary
tower, though the main attraction of wandering the ruins is to glimpse apsaras peering
out of niches amid the jumbled stones.
3
Koh Ker
One of Cambodia's most remote Angkorian sites, 125km northeast of Siem Reap,
KOH
KER
was briefly capital of the Khmer Empire in the tenth century, when Jayavarman IV
- who was already ruler of his own state here when he ascended the imperial throne
- decided not to relocate to Angkor, but decreed instead that the court should come to
him, ordering the construction of a road linking Koh Ker and Angkor, on which the
temples of Beng Mealea and Banteay Samre were later built.
Now practically engulfed by jungle, the ruins of Koh Ker have been heavily looted
and badly neglected, but plenty remains, including more than forty major monuments
spread across eighty square kilometres - although only a small proportion are open to
visitors, and much of the area has yet to be completely de-mined.
Mines
still present a
serious danger. Do not on any account stray from well-trodden paths.
Koh Ker is famous for its distinctive style of
monumental sculpture
, although most
pieces have either been looted or removed for safekeeping to the country's various
museums.
The site
Koh Ker's major temple complex is
Prasat Thom
, consisting of three enclosures laid out
in a row (as at Preah Vihear), with the sanctuary at the centre of the final courtyard.
Entrance to the complex is from the east, via the distinctive red-sandstone
Prasat
Krahom
tower, part of the temple's third enclosure. Through the tower is a wide moat,
crossed by a causeway with naga balustrades, giving onto a narrow second enclosure,
where long thin buildings almost form a gallery. A final gopura through a sandstone
wall leads into the first enclosure, where a terrace supports nine small sanctuaries in
two rows, five in front and four behind, with the remains of twelve minor towers
spread around the courtyard in various states of disrepair.
To the west, beyond Prasat Thom, is Koh Ker's most memorable sight, the
Prang
, a
35m-high, seven-tiered sandstone pyramid - there's a stairway up the eastern side
though you may not be allowed to climb it. The Prang was meant to be Jayavarman
IV's state temple but was never completed. Instead of a sanctuary tower at the top
there's just a pedestal, on which a statue of Nandin would have stood.
Just as high as the Prang is the man-made hill beyond, known as
Pnoh Damrei Saw
(Tomb
of the White Elephant), either the foundation of a second pyramid which never got built,
or possibly the grave of Jayavarman IV himself. More sanctuaries can be found east of the
Rohal
, a 1km-long reservoir hewn out of the rock at Jayavarman IV's instigation.
FROM TOP
BANTEAY SREI
P.188
; APSARA DANCERS
P.154
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