Prasat Chrung (NW)

One of the four prasats that sit at each corner of Angkor Thoms outer wall, this one is located on the northwest corner. You can walk to the site along the top of Angkor Thoms outer wall starting from either Angkor Thom’s north or west gate. The trail is suitable for walking and on foot it takes about 20 minutes to reach the corner from either gate.

The Northwest Prasat Chrung is much like the others at each corner, dedicated to Lokesvara (Avalokiteśvara`, Lokeshavra) and featuring the remains of a cruciform-shaped sanctuary that is ornately decorated with fronton bas-reliefs, Apsara/devata around the outer walls, an entrance terrace, and stele shelter which were all enclosed by an outer wall.

The Prasat Chrungs are quite notable for each having a stele shelter featuring inscriptions. The stele is now believed to be located in the Angkor Conservation Depot. The stele featured an inscription registered under K. 287. As the early French archeologist George Cœdès notes, the southwestern and southeastern stele inscriptions were complete, with the northern steles left seemingly unfinished which he reasons are due to the death of King Jayavarman VII.

Cœdès notes the NW stele being well preserved and the inscription registered under K. 287 featuring 62 lines on two sides, 28 lines on the other side (with a space reserved for 34 lines), and on the fourth side, graffiti he notes as being left in modern characters. The contents of which are in the context of the religious culture of the time, perhaps a poetic and long-winded praise to the king, his virtues, and his ability to overcome the enemy but experts would surely draw much more from it.

The Northwest Prasat Chrung features an extra inscription added in later time (registered as K. 1135) of 7 lines written in modern Khmer and located on the pillar of the stele pavilion. It records a date of 1881, the person’s name, and that he had traveled from Phnom Penh to record inscriptions, also noting three collapsed stone markers (there is a similar inscription left at Angkor Wat).

Gallery

Prasat Chrungs – Prasat Chrung (NE), Southeast, Southwest, Northwest