Prasat Kampong Preah
Situated amid extensive, seasonal marshlands on the edge of the Tonle Sap Lake, Prasat Kampong Preah is an off-the-beaten-track site in what is already one of Cambodia’s most off-the-beaten-track provinces. The location is some 30 to 40 minutes northwest of Kampong Chhnang’s eponymously named provincial capital which in turn is situated some 2 hours northwest of Phnom Penh. Needless to say, the well-preserved and historically significant temple sees very few visitors indeed.
Prasat Kampong Preah dates to the 8th century – pre-Angkorian period – and so was already ancient when Angkor Wat itself was constructed. , The small, brick temple, dedicated to Shiva, originally consisted of three brick towers, aligned east-west and opening to the north. (A channel cut through the marshes connected the temple to the lake which was clearly the principal access point.) Only the foundations remain of the westernmost shrine, the central tower, (possibly older still and dating to the 7th century), is in poor condition but the eastern of the three is in remarkably good condition, displaying over 1200-year-old, intricately carved, sandstone lintels, colonettes and brickwork.
The well-preserved north tower The decorative lintels are considered to represent such definitive examples of this 8th-century period that the temple has given its name to an entire art style. Standard Angkorian architectural categorisation assigns the Kampong Preah style to the period from 715 and the death of Jayavarman I until the end of the 8th – turn of the 9th century. (The easily recognisable lintel style is typified by a straight, central garland bordered by leaf or foliage patterns but lacks any figures or pictorial scenes.) Although this period is one of the least-known in the Khmer timeline, and considered something of a historical dark age, several other well-preserved sanctuaries remain from this era such as Prasat Trapeang Run, Prasat Phum Prasat and Prasat Kong Noy in the suburbs of Phnom Penh.
Lintel over the southern doorway The site’s proximity to the southeastern end of the Great Lake – the Tonle Sap River begins a short distance east of here – suggests that Kampong Preah and its surrounding settlement functioned as a port and stopping-off point for boat transport between the Siem Reap region at the northwestern end of the lake, and the early capital of Sambor Prei Kuk situated up the Sen River, and points up and down the Mekong River itself which famously meets the Tonle Sap at what is today Phnom Penh.
Now, Prasat Kampong Preah is certainly not Angkor Wat or Bayon but it is some 400 years older than the latter and indeed more ancient – and in a completely different style – than any temples visitors are likely to visit in Siem Reap. It is of great historical significance but the off-the-beaten-track feel and the charming setting, (it’s located within the tranquil grounds of a Buddhist wat which, in rainy season at least, forms an island amid the marshlands), always makes it a popular stop with our guests as we complete our Cambodian loop with a drive from Battambang to Phnom Penh.
A stretch-your-legs break at Kampong Preah features on our small group Cambodia Overland tour, our Cambodia and Vietnam tour and the Indochina Adventure tour to Laos and Cambodia.
