Banteay Kdei

Banteay Kdei was built by Jayavarman VII on the site of an earlier foundation, a Buddhist monastic complex of galleries, courtyards and towers laid out on a long east-west axis, and it has been left in a middling state: partly collapsed, partly propped, with grass in the courtyards and trees on the walls, which gives it much of the atmosphere people go to Ta Prohm for without the crowds. Poor-quality sandstone means the carving has weathered badly in places, though dancers and devatas survive on some walls. In 2001 a large cache of buried Buddha images was excavated here, hidden presumably during a period of religious reaction. Across the road is Srah Srang, a bathing basin with a stone landing stage.

History

The name goes back to Kuti, an estate that the stele of Sdok Kak Thom says Jayavarman II gave to the family of his royal chaplain, and the Buddhist monastic complex was built by Jayavarman VII and his royal architect Kavindrarimathana on the site of a 10th-century temple of Rajendravarman; it is reported to be the first temple Jayavarman VII built, in 1181, opposite the Srah Srang reservoir. After centuries of neglect under vegetation it was cleared in 1920-1922 under Henri Marchal, monks lived in parts of it until the 1960s, and during ten years of research by the Sophia University mission of Japan, fragments of 274 sandstone Buddhist statues were unearthed here in 2001 (Wikipedia, Banteay Kdei).

The main sights

• Rambling galleries - collapsed and propped courtyards with grass and trees.
• Devatas and dancers - carved figures surviving on the better stone.
• The eastern gate - a face tower in the Bayon manner.
• Srah Srang opposite - the basin and its stone landing terrace.

When to go

November to March. Sunrise over Srah Srang from the landing stage is a quieter alternative to the Angkor Wat crowd. The temple itself is calmest early and late.

What to expect

The stone is poor and much of the carving is badly eroded. Sections are fenced off as unsafe. It gets group traffic in the middle of the day since it sits on the small circuit. Footing over rubble is uneven.

Nearby

Srah Srang is across the road; Ta Prohm lies west.

Key facts