Date: Middle of the 10th
century (946)
Style: Pre Rup
Religion: Rajendravarman (it may have
been built by the high court official Kavin-dra-rima-thana)
Restoration: 1952
This
small Buddhist temple was built by the same architect, Kavindrarimathana, who
built king Rajendravarman’s royal palace and the temple of East Mebon and
probably began Pre-Rup. He is the only Khmer architect whose name is known to
us. On his own behalf, he also built Srah Srang and Bat Chum. The latter was
dedicated in 960, shortly before the architect’s death. There were houses
around the Buddhist monastery’s nearby, but these have long since vanished.
Three
brick towers (in poor condition), all facing E, on the same platform surrounded
by an enclosure with a gopura (gateway) to
the E and a moat and with a pond in front of them.
As
is customary, the brick towers are finished with stone door frames, lintels and
octagonal colonettes. There are also some fine stone of Guardian lions. There
is an inscription on each of the three towers “each poem”, all praising the
builder is signed by a different person. The last verse of all three requests
that elephant owners should prevent their animals from trampling on the dykes
in the area, referring to the elephants as “dyke breakers”.
No comments:
Post a Comment