Srah Srang : "The royal bathing pool"
late 12th century under King Jayavarman VII

Leaving Banteay Kdei by the east gate and crossing the road near the 11 kilometre marker stone one gains, in a few paces, an elegant embarkation terrace, axial on the temple and dominating the area of water known as the Srah Srang. This measures 700 metres by just over 300 and, slightly off axis, was without doubt excavated before the reign of Jayavarman VII. It has a border of laterite steps with an outer margin of sandstone. Its centre is marked by a small island on which some jointed stone blocks perhaps formed the base for a small light-weight pavilion.

Entirely surrounded by large trees and always full of water it provides, in the fading light of day, one of the most delightful settings in the Angkor Park. The terrace, with a moulded sandstone base on laterite foundations, must have supported some light-weight construction which, to judge by the plan of doubled small courtyards, consisted of a large rectangular room with surrounding galleries. An axial stairway flanked by two lions divides into three branches with an intermediate landing - a pleasing arrangement which has allowed the naga-balustrades to be set out in a particularly decorative manner. The rich ornamentation remains refined in style despite the profusion of its elements. To the fore, an enormous garuda rides a three headed naga while the other heads serve to frame it, - to the rear, again the three headed naga with the thighs of the garuda clearly indicated and its stylised tail ornate with small naga heads. The body of the naga rests on blocks sculpted with monsters standing "as atlantes". This is undoubtedly the triumph of a formula which, although perhaps questionable, is nonetheless characteristic of the Bayon style.

Banteay Kdei "The citadel of chambers"
middle of the 12th beginning of the 13th century
under King Jayavarman VII, Cult Buddhist

Leaving Ta Prohm by the east gopura, one can get straight to Banteay Kdei by the route Demasur, which crosses the Small Circuit and leads, in 600 metres, directly to the temple's western entrance. Here is another example of the spirit of confusion, although less so than at Ta Prohm and Prah Khan, that is characteristic of the monuments built, transformed or completed by Jayavarman VII - and of the crowding of the sacred enclosure, which here is 63 metres by 50, set within a vast overall enclosure (700 metres by 500).
At least two different styles are evident, relating to the periods of Angkor Wat and the Bayon, and the additions are clear, in many places masking the already existing sculptures. The various sanctuary towers were also apparently joined only after their construction by a system of galleries and vestibules which exploit the use of the cloister to its extreme. The scheme is reduced to an ensemble on a single level, in the usual manner of the Buddhist monastery, and consists, within two successive enclosure walls, of two concentric galleries from which emerge a veritable profusion of towers, preceded to the east by a crossing cloister.

The ruin is quite advanced, as much due to the numerous defects inherent in the buildings of this period as to the low-grade, friable sandstone that has a tendency to fail. We have no information concerning the dedication of this temple, and so are ignorant of its consecration. An inscription found in the western gopura of the second enclosure has been recognised as having been sculpted on re-used stones. Dating from the reign of Rajendravarman in the 10th century, it would seem to have come from the neighbouring temple of Kutisvara, and contains an invocation to Shiva. It also mentions the placing of two statues - Brahma and Vishnou. The frontons and lintels of this Mahayanist monastery are interesting and of reasonable craftsmanship. Some have escaped destruction during the religious altercations of the 13th century. Until clearing work began there was still a pagoda on the site.

Ta Phrom click here

Ta Nei: late 12th century
under King Jayavarman VII, Cult Buddhist

From Takeo, the visitor who has the time will find in a trip to Ta Nei the pretext for a pleasant walk through the forest. A path to the north continues the route Batteur and leads directly in 800 metres - having crossed several mounds and ditches - to the western gopura of the temple, on the western side of the road.
The monument is built 200 metres west of the western dike of the eastern baray, and though it has been left untouched, overall it is relatively well preserved. Its style, from the second half of the twelfth century, is consistent throughout - only the two gopuras (east and west) of the external (or third) enclosure, whose wall has disappeared, would seem to be slightly later than the rest of the monument.

These two small gopuras, in sandstone and partially ruined, are cruciform in plan and covered with a crossing of barrel-formed vaults. Quite crude in construction, with decoration based on foliated scrolls, false windows with blinds and devatas, they relate to the end of the style of the Bayon. A decorative cornice surrounds the interior. On the east side of the eastern gopura - which is joined to the temple by the remains of a terrace and a pavement - one can see a curious fronton in place; - a Lokesvara, standing on a lotus surrounded by apsaras and flying figures, dominates a lower line of other kneeling figures with large bellies who seem to be pleading with him. Are these the sickly who seek healing, or perhaps the damned "rice thieves" who appear on the Hell bas-relief of Angkor Wat? It is difficult to say.
The temple as such had four gopuras joined by galleries with corner pavilions, a central sanctuary and, in the eastern part of the internal enclosure, a single "library" on the southern side.

TA KEO "The ancestor Keo" : early 11th century
under King Jayaviravarman , Cult Brahmanic (Shiva)

Skirting Ta Keo by its western and southern boundary, one leaves the small circuit at the crossing corresponding to the south-east corner of the temple to take the route Batteur to the left. The simple, massive form of the monument then appears framed by the large trees at the end of the axial causeway. It is quite different in appearance to the other temples constructed so far, since the building remained undecorated. It also distinguishes itself by the unusual emphasis placed on the arrangement of the various horizontal elements of the pyramid in the composition - in elevation, the towers themselves, arranged in a quincunx, appear as the silhouette of a single group, seemingly joined by the projection of their avant-corps.

It is not known why work on this temple - which might have been included with the best - was abandoned just after the start of its ornamentation. Perhaps the successor to the founding king did not want to detract from the religious merit of his predecessor by completing the task and taking credit for himself - or maybe he had some other personal work of his own that was of more interest to him. Whatever the reason, the style and the quality of the partial decoration is sufficient to place the monument in time, and close study undertaken by Madame de Coral-Remusat and Mssrs Goloubew and Cœdes, from differing points of view, has allowed them to place it between the extreme limits of Banteay Srei and the gopuras of the Royal Palace of Angkor Thom. It appears therefore to be from the period between the end of 10th century and the first years of the 11th. The inscriptions engraved on the door jambs of the eastern gopuras, relating to donations made to the temple but not to its foundation, date from 1007.

Ta Keo is a pyramid of five levels reaching a total height of 22m.00 - the first two form the base of two enclosing courtyards, one surrounded by a simple wall and the other by a gallery, while the last three, with their various elements conforming to the usual rule of proportional reduction and so narrow that one can barely walk around them, are but a massive artificial plinth for the quincunx of sanctuaries.

This is the first realisation in sandstone of such a structure - generally dedicated to some deified nobility - after the temple of Bakheng which crowned a natural hill that served as its base. Its construction was consequently far more delicate and has been undertaken with much more care in the systematic cutting and placing of the enormous blocks of stone, whose arrangement, in the absence of any moulding or decoration, remains perfectly clear. The gallery, on the other hand, must be practically contemporaneous with the somewhat restrained sandstone gallery of Phimeanakas - but here one will see that there are no remains of any stone vault. It is probable, to judge by the rubble found during clearing works and the existence of corbelled brick vaults on the wings of the gopuras - a technique similarly used at Banteay Srei and on the entry pavilions of the Royal Palace - that the galleries at Takeo were themselves also vaulted in brick, rather than in any light-weight structure.