Toch Temple (Ko Muoy Village)

Located on the plains to the southwest of the grand mountaintop temple of Preah Vihear, Prasat Toch is a small, partially standing temple.

The site consists of an outer wall constructed of laterite with an entrance on the east. This encloses a single shrine, which also opens to the east, and a “library” in its southeast corner. By eye, the outer enclosure may be around 35m x 30m and is also surrounded by a moat with a medium-sized basin to the east.

The forebody of the central shrine is mostly standing while the main body has collapsed. This forebody had windows on each side and above its eastern entrance, a sandstone decorative lintel that had never received and decorative carving.

The remains of the library do, however, retain a lintel where the decorative reliefs had begun to be sketched.

Its layout and construction method could be indicative of being one of Jayavarman VII’s hospital chapels of the 12th-13th century, likely built from recycled materials of a previous temple.

In 2022, two fragments of bronze (?) jars were discovered here, one featuring an inscription held to date to the Jayavarman VII era.

Images – July 2023 Tour T20

Rodney Charles LHuillier

Living in Asia for over a decade and now residing in beautiful Siem Reap. Rodney Charles L'Huillier has spent over seven years in Cambodia and is the author of Ancient Cambodia (2024) and Essential Siem Reap (2017, 2019). Contact via [email protected] - more..