PHNOM CHISOR

This beautiful temple is installed on a height of 100 m and dominates the area. By going there, you will be entitled to the reward of a wide panorama. One reaches it by a great white staircase of thousand steps, good luck to you! The violent battles of the past have put it in a bad state, and it is difficult to determine the function of each building, but the architecture is majestic. A monastery and a concrete pagoda were built right next to the old temple and are now the main places of worship. The view is best from the east, on the side of the ancient causeway that Brahmins and their procession once followed to reach the ritual entrance from Tonle Om, a sacred pond located 1 km away on the great plain below.

The roadway crossed first the Senravang (Reclining Buddha), and 700 m further on, the Sen Thmol with two cruciform buildings with inverted sides, the last one presenting its ritual face to the west. A superb monumental staircase of 215 m length, with 400 unequal steps, rises on the eastern slope of the Phnom. It is cut by landings in its lower part but very steep towards the top.

The temple comprises a rectangular enclosure with galleries containing eight buildings. The bases, walls and vaults are all made of laterite; the friezes are made of sandstone; the superstructure of the aediculae is made of beautiful pinkish-gray brick. It is possible that the decoration of this temple was never completed, however the sculpted lintels and pediments spared by history prove the mastery of the sculptors (10th-11th century). Numerous yoni (hollow steles, symbol of fertility) are placed everywhere.

The façade is oriented towards the staircase while the other three sides have their gallery open to the inner courtyard. In the center of the courtyard, the main sanctuary, open to the east, rises on a molded base of 1.60 meters. It consists of a vestibule and a nave with four laterite pillars; the central cella is raised on the base of a larger primitive building. The interior door of the nave has preserved its superb carved wooden leaves. The circular laterite enclosure is divided into sixteen unconnected rooms (living quarters, reception room). The large north and south rooms, with higher windows, could have been reserved for the female personnel attached to the temple, notably the servants or the singers. The rooms in the north-west and south-west corners were used for visiting guests.