Preah Khan Temple

Preah Khan was built by Jayavarman VII in 1191 on the site of a victory and dedicated to his father, and it was never only a temple: inscriptions record a community of thousands of officials, dancers and attendants, with a hospital and rest houses, making it a monastic city in its own right. The plan is a long axial sequence of galleries, courtyards and doorways narrowing as they go, so that walking through it is a corridor of diminishing frames. Sandstone carving includes garudas on the outer wall and fine apsaras. A two-storey building with round columns, unique at Angkor and unexplained, stands near the eastern entrance. Conservation has deliberately kept trees and collapse in places rather than clearing everything.

What you actually see

• The narrowing axis - doorways receding in a long diminishing line.
• Trees in the ruins - growth left in place by the conservation approach.
• Garuda wall figures - the giant birds carved around the outer enclosure.
• The columned building - the two-storey structure with no parallel at Angkor.

When to go

November to March is the dry cool season. Early morning avoids both heat and the coach parties that arrive mid-morning on the grand circuit. The temple is large enough to absorb visitors better than the small ones.

Honest expectations

The temple is large and walking it takes an hour or more over uneven stone and rubble. Some galleries are propped or closed. It is hot and humid by mid-morning. The Angkor pass is required and is expensive.

Nearby

Neak Pean lies east; Angkor Thom is south.