Neang Khmau Temple (Phumi Rovieng)

Located around 50 km south of Phnom Penh, it was originally a group of three brick temples, surrounded by a moat and enclosure wall, of which two remain mostly standing. They were built during the 10th century under the reign of King Jayavarman IV and dedicated to Vishnu. Today, they are located in the monastery grounds and flanked to the south by a contemporary pagoda. The two standing temples are the larger central temple and north temple, the southern temple had collapsed as far back as the early 1900s when French researchers documented the site. At that time they also noted that the collapsed tower likely predated the two that were still standing. They also mentioned seeing remains of a laterite enclosure wall.

The brick temples are aligned on a north-south axis and open to the east with sandstone doorframes flanked by decorated octagonal columns and topped by decorated sandstone lintels. Around the other sides, false doors set in the brickwork with emphasized pilasters. The two towers rise up with three false floors reducing in size as they go with false doors on each side. The lintel above the central temple is in amazing condition while that above the northern tower has decayed beyond recognition.

French researchers noted traces of paintings on the walls of both towers. The northern tower once held a female statue, or fragments of, that gave the temple its name, Neang Khmao, Literally translating as black woman, sometimes referred to as black princess while the meaning is bad woman and connects with a folklore story about an ancient kings daughter who fell in love with a commoner and was absconded to by the king to reside at these temples and then, she forgot her previous lover and fell head over heels for the abbot!

Today the central tower is locked mostly but contains an ancient pedestal and replicas (?) of a Hayagriva statue and one of a female deity. The north tower retains a sandstone pedestal.

The pagoda and monastery are quite nice, with the pagoda featuring depictions of Neang Kong Hing and surrounded by sema stones.

Inscriptions at Neang Khmau Temple

• K. 35 – in situ on the doorframe of central tower – 10 lines in Sanskrit
• K. 36 – in situ on the doorframe of the north tower – 5 lines in Sanskrit
• K. 37 – doorframe – 10 lines in Khmer
• K. 765 – doorframe – 7 lines in Khmer

Getting to Neang Khmau Temple is easy enough via road 2 (bar the roadworks still in progress as of early 2022). Nearby to here just 2km to the east is Phnom Chisor temple.

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..