PREAH KHAN

Preah Khan, one of our favorite temples, literally means "the sacred sword", this vast religious complex was built after the victory of King Jayavarman VII against the Cham in 1191. Home to temples, a Buddhist university, and a monastery (among others), Preah Khan was above all the capital of the victorious ruler during the time it took to build his most famous and enduring work: Angkor Thom. While Ta Prohm is dedicated to the mother of the monarch, this one is dedicated to his father. Thanks to the stele that celebrated the foundation of this holy place, archaeologists have been able to collect a lot of information. They estimate that nearly 100,000 people lived on the site of Preah Khan, including 1,000 dancers and 1,000 teachers. Whether one enters from the east or west, a long line of sandstone lotus flowers greets the visitor; they once bore representations of Buddha that were burned, along with all those in the temple, by iconoclasts in a return to Shivaism. The entrance pavilions were probably shrines. Our description of the visit starts from the east gate, where the pier is located on the west bank of the Jayatataka, the huge body of water whose center is Neak Pean. This waterway was once used as a lock to control the water level of the Eastern Baray. On the surrounding wall, a frieze of Garouda gripping Naga (one every 50 meters) stands out, even if a large part has been ravaged by vegetation. Henri Marchal, who cleared the temple in the late 1930s, wished to leave some of the vegetation in place, including these imposing cheese trees that defy gravity by growing on the surrounding walls. The restorations carried out in the following decades and up to the present day try to preserve this balance between the invading vegetation and the human constructions. Before the sanctuary, in the eastern part of the temple, the hall of the dancers is decorated with sumptuous apsaras. Just to the north, a two-story building continues to intrigue specialists: the current hypothesis is that it was a rice granary. To be continued... Once in the sanctuary, a vast labyrinth of galleries and open spaces, one must stop at the stupa, perfectly aligned to the east: the sun comes to light its summit every morning. Around the sanctuary, many bas-reliefs evoke the daily life of the university. It takes a good hour to walk around the site.