The upper central tower of Preah Rup
I still have quite a lot of materials from my fave temples in Cambodia’s Angkor Wat Archaeological Park. Like I said before, this place is quite huge so there’s a lot of photo opportunity here. I will try to post an entry or two each month until it runs out along with some new materials. Please note that not all travel post are real time, as some materials are posted for documentation purposes as well. And for this entry, is another temple that I enjoyed exploring at the park, Preah Rup Temple.
Corner walls and towers
Originally, our destination that morning is the elaborate temple of Bantei Srei, but on our way, there are several temples we passed by and one that’s quite impressive is Preah Rup Temple. Just a few distance passing by Sras Srang at the eastern side of the park, you won’t fail to see this huge temple mountain standing proudly on the corner of the road.
Stone guardians and views from the top
We went to the south entrance of the temple and climbed from there. The area of the temple is quite vast and the temple itself is three levels high. Even though some of the lower structures of the temples are destroyed some of the guardian statues on the upper level are still intact. I may say this is one of the artistically designed temple in the park in terms of architecture. Nice windows and impressive carvings can be found here. From this south side top, ou could also have impressive view of the surrounding countryside and looking a little to the west you could actually see the spires of the Angkor Wat.
Walking at the upper temple level
The top most level of the temple have four temple towers on each corner and one larger central tower in the middle. The temple is actually Hindu, built in dedication to Shiva. At first t was thought to be a funerary temple where bodies are burned, but in fact it was a state temple of Rajendravarman II. Historically significant for it was the 2nd temple built after Angkor was returned as a capital from Koh Ker post a political upheaval.
Descending the temple at the East Gate
After enjoying the view and walking around the upper temple we decided to go down the East Gate. From the top we could se an arrival of a bus load of tourist so I guess it was time for us to go. The staircase here is a bit thin like in Angkor Wat but more manageable. Upon descending, you could see the other towering structures of the base level of the temple which is quite impressive.
View of the stairs and the top level 3 towers at the East Gate
great photos indeed. Visit me if u have time. TC
It sure is a lovely place from the looks of it on your articles. You must have had a wonderful time visiting this place. I hope that I would be lucky to go there as well.
wala talagang kakupas kupas dre ah hehehe
Great archeological info and pics bro .. Parang National Geographic ang presentation mo
awesome pictures!!! hayy… i really wanna go to cambodia especially after seeing your pictures
Another WOW! when could I visit these places featured in your blogs Ferdz?
graaabe! i’ve always known, this place is a must see. and i cant be more convinced now seeing these photos. need to save talaga na!