Preah Khan is one of the more popular temples of Angkor, along with Bayon, Ta
Prohm, and of course, Angkor Wat itself.
The earliest temples of Angkor were built with brick. By the late 900's AD,
brick was being replaced by sandstone. The sandstone came mostly from a place
called Phnom Kulen, located about 19 kilometers away from Angkor Thom. One
of the bas-relief murals in Bayon shows how the sandstone was cut from the
quarry, shaped into blocks and transported on the Siem Reap River. From the
river, the blocks were transported by elephant or ox-cart, depending on the
size of the rock. The blocks also had holes drilled into them and bamboo
rods could be used to help hoist them into position during construction.
Many of the Angkor temples share a general common
theme - a perimeter area near a wall that encloses the temple, then an inner area,
and then a third innermost area. The exterior walls to the innermost area
are usually covered with carvings of "apsaras" or other beautifully carved
feminine figures.
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When Preah Khan was "rediscovered", the forest had nearly swallowed it. Although
not as extensive as the trees that still seem to swallow up Ta Prohm, the
trees are still also growing here at
Preah Khan, sometimes right out of the walls.
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Here are more of the many doorways that enter into the maze-like complexity
of Preah Khan. Even the inner sills of the doorways are covered with intricate
carvings.
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One of the things that's kind of sad is that the heads of the statues
are almost always gone, looted long ago. Unfortunately, the security at these
sites is still pretty lax and this is probably still happening.
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