Cambodia — Day 3: Preah Khan (ប្រាសាទព្រះខ័ន), Angkor Archaeological Park, Angkor, Cambodia — part 1 of 2

Back on the road

September 2015

Back on the road visiting temples.

It was another rainy day, and the first temple was Preah Khan (ប្រាសាទព្រះខ័ន).

I arrived at the temple around 9 am and left about 80 minutes later.

I liked Preah Khan (ប្រាសាទព្រះខ័ន) as I had arrived before most of the tourists (it started getting busy just after 10 am), and it felt like I had the place to myself for a time. The temple reminded me of Ta Prohm (ប្រាសាទតាព្រហ្ម) in that the temple was being sympathetically maintained.

At Preah Khan (ប្រាសាទព្រះខ័ន), I found an interesting plaque that described ongoing work on the site. The plaque said the work at the site was a cooperative project between the National APSARA Authority and the World Monuments Fund (USA) for the Royal Kingdom of Cambodia.

Work conserving the temple had started in 1991, and the international team, in partnership with APSARA Authority, was carefully maintaining the remains of Preah Khan as a stabilised ruin in its jungle setting. The project was training Khmer architects, engineers, archaeologists and local craftspeople to maintain the temple.

The temple was built by King Jayavarman VII (1181–1218) to honour his father. This puts the temple in with Angkor Thom (អង្គរធំ) and Ta Prohm (ប្រាសាទតាព្រហ្ម).

For more information on Preah Khan (ប្រាសាទព្រះខ័ន), see Wikipedia.

I liked Preah Khan (ប្រាសាទព្រះខ័ន). The architecture was stunning, and the temple had a feeling of age. The conservation and preservation work being carried out by the National APSARA Authority and the World Monuments Fund (USA) was very subtle, appearing to be almost non-existent, as large parts of the temple seemed damaged.

Foursquare: Preah Khan (ប្រាសាទព្រះខ័ន)