Temples in Siem Reap

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Angkor Wat
Bakheng Temple
Phnom Krom
Ta Prohm Temple
Angkor Thom
Bayon Temple
Prah Khan Temple
Ta Som Temple
Banteay Srei
Banteay Kdei
Pre Rup
Tep Pranam
Banteay Samre
Baphoun
Ta Keo
Ter-Elephants
Kravan
Chau Say
Spean Thmar
Leper King
Mebon (W)
Mebon (E)
Srah Srang
Thomanon
Krol Ko
Palilay
Suor Prat
Neak Pean

Temples

Krol Ko, the Shed of Oxen

Prasat Krol Ko is located in the northwest of Neak Pean, 100 meters from the road. A enter and leave from the east. It was built in late 12th century-early 13th century by king Jayavarman VII, in Buddhist religion with following to Bayon style art.

Background

The main items of interest at Krol Ko are the pediments on the ground Two out standing ones are a bodhisattva Avalokitesvara standing on a lotus flanked by devotees and a strongly modeled scene of Krsna lifting Mount Govardhana to shelter the shepherds.

Layout

Kro Ko is a single tower monument with two enclosing walls built of laterite with an entry tower at the east and a moat with steps. There is a library built of laterite and sandstone opening to the west on the left of the interior courtyard. The Central Sanctuary stands on a terrace in the shape of a cross.

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Palilay

		Date: sanctuary - first half of the 12th century gopura - late 12th, early 13th century
		*Cult*: Buddhist
		*Clearing*: by H. Marchal in 1918 - 1919 Anastylosis of the gopura by M. Glaize in 1937 - 1938


		Setting off down the oblique path behind Tep Pranam, towards the north-west, one comes in 150 metres to the foot of a small terrace from where one can see the Buddha preceding the entrance, the gopura, and the sanctuary itself of Prah Palilay, surrounded by the soaring silk-cotton trees which provide a particularly dramatic setting.

		This cruciform terrace, of about thirty metres in length by 8m.50 in width on its upper level, is in a remarkable state of preservation, constituting one of the finest specimens of this kind of work from the classic period, where the broadly crested seven-headed nagas of its balustrades are refined in line and carry no excess of material. Two dvarapalas or guardians, now decapitated, preceded it on the east side with two crouching lions, only one of which remains.

		The terrace is linked to the gopura by a thirty three metre pavement, once bordered with "Hamsas", or sacred geese, sculpted on sandstone blocks, similar to those on Terrace of the elephants.



A large Buddha of a late period, who for a long-time was missing his head - found in 1934 entwined in the roots of a tree - has been erected in front of the monument. Three metres high, including the base, he sits on a lotus "calling the earth to witness". His "ushnisha" finishes in a flame like that of the Buddha of Tep Pranam.

The laterite enclosure wall forms a square of 50 metres each side and is cut by a single gopura to the east. Before its restoration in 1937 nothing existed of this but a precarious and unstable structure - the fruit of all the usual problems inherent in the buildings in the style of the Bayon. It is now presented as the elegant silhouette of a cruciform building with three passageways, slender in proportion and crowned at the centre by a single storey square tower with a barrel-formed vault and double gable end.

Its main interest lies in the frontons, sculpted with Buddhist scenes that have extraordinarily managed to avoid being defaced by the iconoclasts.

One can see, on the eastern side of the north wing "the offering of the animals in the forest" with elephants, monkeys and peacocks in a scene that could have been the origin of the name of Prah Palilay by the altering of "Parilyyaka", the name of the woods to which the Buddha retreated in solitude after leaving Kosambi. To the west is the seated Buddha receiving the "offerings from Sujata", and, on the gable end, the "calming of the furious elephant Nalagiri".

The sandstone sanctuary has a five metre square chamber that opens to its four sides with as many vestibules. It stands on a base which is itself set on a three tiered plinth of 6 metres in overall height.

Breached on each axis by a stairway with intermediate landings, these tiers are unfortunately badly ruined - as are the vestibules - which is all the more regrettable since their ornamentation, close in style to that of Angkor Wat, is from the best period of the classic art (the first half of the 12th century). Above stands a high, truncated pyramid forming a sort of rugged-faced chimney.

Filled with re-used stone blocks it certainly forms an addition, and could only have served as a frame - like the towers with faces of the Bayon - for some form of light-weight covering.

Inside, hardwood beams doubling the lintel once gave support to the stonework above the doors. Completely decayed, they had to be replaced by elements in reinforced concrete over the north and west openings. A large Buddha of a later period but of some quality leans in the western opening, close to which can be found the fine torso of a standing Buddha.

Some excellent pieces of sculpture from the frontons have been taken to the Bayon storeroom for safe-keeping, while others have been placed around the monument - some representing Buddhist scenes and others Brahmanic divinities. One will see, in particular - on either side of the gopura within the enclosure - an Indra on a three headed elephant and "the assault of Mara and his army of demons" against the Buddha, whose image has not been found. This syncretism is not uncommon with the Khmer, and one suspects that if the Buddhist images of Prah Palilay have managed to escape destruction by the successors to Jayavarman VII, of an intransigent Hinduism, it was mybe due to the proximity of the Tep Pranam monastery (Saugatasrama) on which it perhaps depended and whose official status, situated in the shadow of the Royal Palace, could have endowed these saintly images with some particular immunity.

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Suor Prat

Date: late 12th century

King: Jayavarman VII

Cult: Brahmanic (Vishnou)

Clearing: by Mr Commaille in 1908 and Mr H. Marchal 1919-20.
Restoration of prasat no.4 1955 - 6

The Prasats Suor Prat are the twelve rugged looking towers in laterite and sandstone which line the eastern side of the royal square in Angkor Thom and the start of the road leading to the Victory Gate, on either side of which they are symmetrically arranged. Their function remains unknown, since their romantic name, which corresponds to the local belief that they were used to support a high wire stretched between them for acrobatics during certain festivals, is probably irrelevant.

The explanation of their use given by Tcheou Ta-Kouan, though picturesque, is also hardly adequate:- "In front of the palace there are twelve small stone towers. When two men dispute over some unknown matter, each of the contestants is forced to sit in one of them while the relatives stand watch at the base. After three or four days, he who is wrong shows it by suffering some illness - ulcers, or catarrh, or malignant fever - while the other remains in perfect health. Thus right or wrong is determined by what is called 'divine judgement'..."

		The character of these towers is all the more puzzling since, with balustered windows on three of their sides, they do not correspond to the usual form of sanctuary, even though several statues were found there during clearing works. Their exact use remains therefore a mystery.

		Square in plan, they were built in laterite, crudely finished inside and have two upper tiers, the higher of which is covered in a barrel-formed vault and has two gable ends. Only the frames of the openings, the lintels and the frontons are in sandstone, though they remain in rough form with only some of the frontons having the sketched outlines of nagas' curves mounted on flaming leaves and foliated scrolls decorated with the small lions which are typical of the 12th century. There is no trace of any plaster, and the collection gives the impression of being unfinished, which is only typical of later buildings.

		Antefixes sculpted with ascetics or nagas - which are not so typical - have been found in several places. The entrance doors, opening towards the royal terrace and the road to the Victory Gate and situated at a lower level than the interior of the towers, have been adjusted during the forming of a kind of raised terrace which partially blocked them for the length of the square. This embankment must have been formed at a later date

On either side of the road leading to the Victory Gate, in a corner defined by the Prasats Suor Prat, is a large pool of 80 metres by 60 bordered with steps. Behind the southern is a well-preserved Buddhist terrace, modified to take the large statue of the "Buddha-King", discovered by Mr Trouvé in 1933 down the central well of the Bayon.

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Neak Pean

Neak Pean ("Coiled Serpents") at Angkor, Cambodia is an artificial island with a Buddhist temple at the center of Jayatataka Baray, or Pool of Jayavarman. The name is derived from the sculptures of snakes (Naga) running around the base of the temple structure.

Neak Pean was originally designed for medical purposes, as it is one of the many hospitals Jayvarman the seventh built. It is based on the ancient Hindu belief of balance. Four connected pools represent the Water, Earth, Fire, Wind.

The ancients believe that going in these pools would balance the elements in you, thus curing your disease. In the middle of the four healing ponds is the central water source. There is a statue of Bahala (Bodisavatta Guan Yin transformed into a horse), as a sumbol of drowning prevention.