Banteay Chhmar

Banteay Chhmar (បន្ទាយឆ្មារ) is one of the largest Khmer temple complexes anywhere outside Angkor, raised by Jayavarman VII in the closing years of his reign around the turn of the thirteenth century. Its galleries carry relief carving of the same ambition as the Bayon, running through land and naval battles against the Cham, columns of troops on the march, and royal audiences, and the western gallery holds a multi-armed Avalokiteshvara found in this form nowhere else. Face towers of the kind built at Angkor Thom stand among the collapsed sandstone. Nine satellite temples lie in the fields and forest around the main enclosure, most of them within walking or cycling distance. The site was heavily looted in the 1990s and has been worked on since by conservation projects, and a village co-operative has run homestays and guided visits here since 2006.