ANGKOR WAT
Important temple with galleries and chapels, built in the 12th century by ...Read more
ANGKOR THOM
City with 5 gates featuring 4 massive Buddha faces, home to the remains of ...Read more
BANTEAY SREI - CITADEL OF WOMEN
Temple founded during the reign of Jayavarman V, one of the finest relics ...Read more
ELEPHANT TERRACE
Terrace overlooking Angkor Thom's royal square, adorned with a sculpted ...Read more
PREAH KHAN
Temple built after Jayavarman VII's victory over the Chams, with a line of ...Read more
LEPER KING'S TERRACE
U-shaped terrace north of the entrance to the Royal Palace built by ...Read more
KBAL SPEAN
Kbal Spean or the River of a Thousand Lingas, discovered in 1968, Shiva's ...Read more
EASTERN WEATHER
Read moreRajendravarman II had the Mebon built in honour of Shiva and his ancestors in the second half of the 10th century. The superb finely crafted sandstone elephants are the most beautiful ornament of this temple, once located on an island, in the middle of the immense Eastern Baray and only accessible by boat. In the entrance pavilion of the first enclosure, a Sanskrit inscription praises the king and indicates that he had eight linga and statues of Vishnu and Brahma erected, which were housed in the small brick towers of the first enclosure. Almost all lintels are of great beauty. On the central tower, to the east: Indra mounted on a three-headed elephant; to the west: Skanda, the god of war, on his peacock and surrounded by lotus carriers; to the south: Shiva on Nandin. At the northwest corner tower, on the east side, Ganesha riding her trunk; at the southeast corner tower, on the north side, a monster's head devouring an elephant; on the east side of the western gopura of the first enclosure, Vishnu, under his avatar as a lion-man, killing the king of the Assurans who had allowed himself to be compared to him; at the northeast corner tower of the first enclosure, on the west side, Lakshmi sprayed with water by two elephants. The restoration work was carried out by Henri Marchal and Maurice Glaize from 1935 to 1939. It is necessary to visit the Eastern Mebon at sunset, when an exceptional light highlights all the shades of red of this brick and laterite temple.
BANTEAY SAMRE
A single-storey temple founded by Suryavarman II and completed under ...Read more
KRAVAN PRASATE
Read moreCompleted in 921, Prasat Kravan, or the cardamom temple, had five monumental towers, only two of which are still standing. Its construction was not decided by a sovereign but by senior officials of the priests of the court, which explains why it stands a little on the periphery of the centre of Angkor Thom. Some bas-reliefs relating the Vishnu myths are quite remarkable, especially those of Vishnu and his wife Lakshmi, sculpted from the bricks of the temple. A style then in vogue in the Cham Empire, but very rare in Khmer art, proof that cultural ties united the two enemy peoples. It is necessary to visit Prasat Kravan at noon, because the sun penetrates through the top of the towers illuminating the bas-reliefs