Neang Khmau Temple (Koh Ker)

Also recorded as Neang Khmaw Temple or Prasat Neang Khmao, it is a large square temple constructed of laterite atop a sandstone base that is surrounded by a laterite wall. It features several false levels reducing in size to the top that have accent pieces and at each corner a “mini prasat” decorative piece. The sandstone basement still preserves traces of beautiful decorative carvings. It is one of the best-preserved temples to be found.

The temple opens to the west featuring a sandstone doorframe with ornate columns and a decorative lintel above the door although sadly the main idol, recorded as being Brahma with four arms on a lotus, has long gone. Inside the tower is the remnants of a linga and pedestal which if you walk around still has some amazing decoration to be seen around the base of the pedestal.

Why is it black? Research by Etsuo Uchida et al. notes the cause of black areas on the surface of construction materials commonly used in Khmer temples as being caused by manganese oxides, another paper notes this may be due to climatic conditions of the country. See: Precipitation of manganese oxides on the surface of construction materials in the Khmer temples, Cambodia, 2016

Photos from the 2021 tour – note the “mood” difference between early morning in the 2023 photos above and these taken mid-afternoon, it can be a very different experience and feeling depending on the day/time of day.

Historical Notes

Note: translated from French, there may be some errors, please see the original!

The Black Lady’s Prását, a name it borrowed from a trapan quite close, is 55 m from a track that goes from koh ker to first village in the South, Phum Srayan, less than 3km, straight south of the S. face of the Rahal. It is a single large laterite tower in a square enclosure of 45m aside, of which the light gopura has disappeared, but this tower is in a remarkable state of preservation. The orientation is exactly West.

The interior of the sanctuary is a beautiful square room, with neat walls, whose paving is one meter below the threshold. The cella has kept its pedestal in place, which is very rare; it is probable that the pedestal and the linga are one with the ground as in Pr. G-K. Treasure seekers did not then attempt to find the sacred deposit.

Richly carved, this pedestal carried a linga of which only the base remains. A ceiling, supported by a cornice, hid a vault by laterite corbels which is not very high. The door with wide uprights in the direction E.-O., had lintel and threshold with dowels with curved pipes. The arrangement above the door is special, but particularly simple. The lintel frame protrudes slightly behind, about ten centimeters, which receives the dowel holes. Above the bottom of the decorative lintel continues the plane of the wall and the masonry does the same.

Outside, the tower raises its large and dark bare walls, slightly redented and its powerful false doors and its door between a common base and a cornice, both with ogee. The base rests on a sandstone credenza; it presents a flight of steps between straight, ornamented scrolls, with a lotus step in front of each bay, true or false.

The door has a very detailed wide profile frame, mitered together. The octagonal columns, robust, have five elements and basic dice with niche; they offer nudes cut with a beaded band and friezes at both ends. They carry a remarkable triple movement lintel whose central motif is an important figure of Brahma under a niche, with finely detailed lines. the laterite pilasters support a long overturned U-shaped pediment with the usual step.

The main cornice, with monolithic corner antefix, carries a sideboard, above are four rather low floors and an unfortunately unrecognizable termination. Ordinary false bays are framed with prását antefixes and amortizations made of laterite.

The enclosure is a laterite wall with a cupped roof section with curved sides; it is interrupted to the west by a confused support of the same material in enormous blocks; this is terminated in front by a flight of steps between echiffres with an access step; this unclear masonry seems the ancient support of a very projecting gopura, probably with a rich light portico which was to form the entrance to the temple,

At 365m, to the northeast, the plane survey shows a square space of the same size as the enclosure of Pr. Nan Khmau, 45m., which could be a location for a light monument. I was too late to verify if it offered any vestige.

L’Art khmèr classique , monuments du quadrant Nord-Est, Henri Parmentier, 1939

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..