Preah Khan
Located at the northern edge of the Angkor Archaeological Park, about 2 km northeast of Angkor Thom, Preah Khan is one of the most important complexes built during the ancient Khmer Empire.
More than just a temple, it reflects the organization of a small city covering 56 hectares, which also included a university.
Today, Preah Khan, overtaken by the roots of giant silk-cotton trees winding through its foundations, remains a remarkable example of flat-roofed architecture known as the "monastic complex" style.
History
Preah Khan ("the sacred sword" in Khmer) was built between 1184 and 1191 on the site where Jayavarman VII won a victorious battle against the Chams who had invaded Angkor in 1177.
A devout Buddhist and a great builder, this king, who had already dedicated the Ta Prohm temple to his mother, dedicated Preah Khan in memory of his father.
Around 15,000 people lived within this vast complex surrounded by a moat (including monks, teachers, students, and dancers), with hundreds of thousands more employed to support them, including farmers from surrounding villages who produced tons of rice to feed them.
In the 13th century, under the reign of King Jayavarman VIII, who imposed a return to Hinduism, most of the Buddha representations adorning Preah Khan were destroyed or transformed.
In the late 1920s, restoration work began using the method of anastylosis (reconstruction based on the original architectural concepts).
During archaeological excavations in 1939, Maurice Glaize, the French conservator of Angkor, discovered the Preah Khan Stele, which is now displayed at the "EFEO Angkor Conservation Center." Measuring 2 meters by 0.60 meters, it is engraved on all four sides with 179 Sanskrit verses containing a wealth of information about the temple. It includes invocations to the Three Jewels of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Dharma (teachings), and the Sangha (the Buddhist community). It also praises Jayavarman VII, the warrior king, builder of a city called Nagara Jayasri in Sanskrit ("the sacred place of victory"). The texts also mention the villages that served the temple and list the wealth of the place in silver, gold, and precious stones. The stele mentions that in 1191, a statue of Lokeshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, sculpted to resemble the father of Jayavarman VII, was consecrated.
Like all other Angkorian structures, Preah Khan is a guardian of Khmer cultural heritage. However, this temple marks a major milestone in the history of Angkor: the great religious reform that, while tolerating Hinduism, established Cambodian Buddhism.
Despite the looting it suffered in past decades, like many other sites, Preah Khan still bears witness to its former splendor through its magnificent ruins.
Visiting Preah Khan
Temple, monastery, university… On a rectangular area of more than 560,000 m², Preah Khan encompasses a multitude of structures built on a flat plane. Its boundaries are defined by a 20-meter-wide moat and surrounding walls. The temple complex includes entrances (gopuras), towers, ceremonial spaces, courtyards, sanctuaries, and a variety of corridors.
You access Preah Khan via a monumental avenue flanked by pillars that were once sculpted with Buddha images, which were destroyed by Brahman priests during the Hindu reaction under Jayavarman VIII.
To cross the moat, you must take the large paved causeway bordered by balustrades formed of devas (gods) and asuras (demons) holding a giant naga (mythological multi-headed serpent). These represent the Hindu myth of the churning of the ocean of milk in search of amrita, the elixir of immortality for the gods.
The laterite wall of the 4th enclosure (the first in the direction of the visit) defines a rectangle 700 meters wide and 800 meters long. It is adorned with 62 monumental representations of Garuda, the eagle vehicle of Vishnu, carved directly into the sandstone.
Once the residential area for the thousands of people who provided for the needs of the inhabitants of Preah Khan, the large space between the 4th and 3rd enclosures was occupied by many now-missing wooden houses. Only the ruins of a dharmasala, a resting place for travelers or pilgrims, remain.
The third enclosure measures 220 meters long and 165 meters wide. Its eastern entrance (gopura), consisting of three towers, is guarded by a well-preserved lion statue. The numerous small Buddha representations that once decorated it were transformed into ascetic figures (rishis). Just after the gopura, you’ll find the "Hall of Dance," a cruciform building surrounded by columned galleries and decorated with beautiful apsaras sculpted above the doorways.
To the north of the "Hall of Dance," you’ll discover a two-story building with large circular columns. This is believed to be the ruins of a grain storage facility, according to the most accepted theory. The courtyard between the "Hall of Dance" and the second enclosure houses the remains of two small libraries.
The second enclosure, covering about 4 hectares, housed the main religious complex, with a concentration of temples and sanctuaries.
Finally, at the very center, the first enclosure, with significant entrance pavilions at the four cardinal points, contains the main temple, the cruciform prasat, divided into four parts by a gallery. The surrounding wall is adorned with images of Buddha that survived the destruction during the Hindu reaction in the 13th century. This narrow space also houses a large number of small funerary chapels and tombs.
It is here, in the central prasat, the "Holy of Holies," that the statue of Lokeshvara, sculpted to resemble Jayavarman VII's father, once stood. It was replaced by a stupa in the 15th century. Although Buddhist, this sacred sanctuary is flanked by two small temples dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu. You’ll notice that its walls are dotted with small holes. Some say that they were once filled with gold and precious stones, but their presence is more likely related to another use. They may have been used to affix plaques that reflected light.
Preah Khan extends eastward to a significant water reservoir (baray), now dried up, with the temple of Neak Pean occupying its center.
How to get there
By tuk-tuk, motorbike taxi, private car with a driver, or even by bicycle for the more adventurous… Everything is possible.
To reach the Preah Khan site, follow the road north of the Angkor Thom gate.
Opening Hours
The temple is open daily from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM.
