Spean Ta Ong

Also recorded as Spean Ta Oak and Spean Ta Oung. It is an ancient laterite bridge measuring 63 m long, 12 m wide, and 7.3 m high featuring 14 arches, and is recorded as the largest bridge along the ancient East Royal Road that connected Angkor to Beng Mealea to Preah Khan (Kampong Svay) – See the map of the ancient roads. The bridge has naga balustrades much of which are still in situ. 

It’s believed that bridges along the East Royal Road were built between the reigns of Suryavarman I (reign 1002–1049) and Suryavarman II (reign 1113–c 1150), most likely the latter, with additions possibly made by Jayavarman VII (reign 1182–c 1218). It was visited by the French artist Louis Delaporte, who left us with beautiful drawings of the bridge from the late 1800s in his publication Voyage au Cambodge; l’architecture Khmer.

The bridge is still in use and quite a relaxing place to sit as local life passes by, farmers, people fishing, and even moto ice-cream hawkers! Bollards have been added to the entrances in recent times in an attempt to stop larger vehicles from crossing.

The naga balustrade is ornately decorated, and the naga end pieces are some of the finest examples of art, one of which is almost intact. I feel we are so lucky to still see this in situ.

Images 2024

Images 2023

Images 2021

Historical Notes

The causeway from Beng Mealea to Pral Khan crosses the large Ta Ong torrent, which becomes the Prek Chikreng further down, on an ancient bridge, the most remarkable of those which still exist on the present territory of Cambodia. The torrent is at this point about thirty meters wide; this width was increased to more than fifty at the passage of the bridge in order to compensate for the obstacle placed in the flow of water by the thickness of the piers.

The axis of the structure is oriented east-west. It includes the same elements as all bridges of the same origin: paving of the bottom with waterfall downstream of the piers, embankment covering the banks, arches formed of long piers joined by corbelled vaults, guardrails in the form of nagas supported by blocks which themselves rest on sandstone cords, någas heads deployed in fans at the ends of the guardrails, etc.

The arches have a 6-metre arrow and a 2-metre opening; they are very irregular, either due to poor workmanship or to settling of the masonry. The deck, supported by fourteen piers, is formed from a mass of limonite blocks; it measures 13 metres in width between the support cords of the guardrails and 77 metres in length between the abutments; it is barely affected by the double rut of the cartwheels. The access ramps have partly disappeared, and the carts, which still have this sole means of crossing the torrent today, have difficulty accessing it: the deck is, in fact, raised about 2 metres above the surrounding terrain.

The whole monument, seen from the bank, is not lacking in a certain grandeur. It has been very well preserved over the centuries without repairs or maintenance. As in similar monuments, the sandstone railings are overturned. Only one of the fans of nagas heads, that of the southeast end, is still in place. These heads are deployed in a double ogive framing at the point of deployment a figurine of a character in the pose of the meditating Buddha, all in a very good state of preservation. The other remains of the railings lie here and there on the bridge, on the edges or in the bed of the torrent itself.

Lajonquiere, 1902

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..