Sambor Prei Kuk
Cambodia · Kampong Thom · 50 m
Description
Sambor Prei Kuk (សំបូរព្រៃគុក) stands thirty kilometres north of Kampong Thom and is the oldest of Cambodia's temple cities, built three centuries before Angkor. It has been identified as Ishanapura, capital of the Chenla kingdom in the late sixth and early seventh centuries, and its brick sanctuaries scattered through tall forest number more than a hundred. Ten of them are octagonal, a plan found nowhere else in Southeast Asia. The carving belongs to a pre-Angkorian idiom now named after the site, and its lintels, pediments and colonnades are the earliest Khmer sculpture of real ambition, including flying palaces cut in low relief on the brick faces. Bombing during the war left craters among the ruins. UNESCO inscribed the temple zone in 2017.
Length of stay
Recommended length of stay: 1 day
Travel season
Best time to visit: December – January
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Highlights
- Prasat Sambor (North Group) (UNESCO)
- Octagonal Brick Towers
- Prasat Tao (Lion Temple)
- Prasat Yeai Poeun (South Group)
- Flying Palace Reliefs
- Carved Sandstone Lintels
- Forest Paths between the Groups
- Bomb Craters
- Ancient Reservoir
- Kampong Thom Town(Day trip)
- Phnom Santuk(Day trip)