Spean Thma Stoeng Toch

A small ancient bridge located east of Wat Banteay Kbal Chen along the ancient East Road that leads to Beng Mealea and Preah Khan of Kampong Svay. It is recorded at 25 meters long and 3 meters wide, constructed of laterite with sandstone balustrade, East-West oriented, consisting of ten arches.

Images 12/2024

Images 2021

Historical Notes

Spean Thma Stung Toch (The Stone Bridge of the Small Rivers). This bridge, which presents the usual characteristics of this kind of work, crosses the Stung Sena Sang-kream, a left tributary of the Stung Roluos, not far from its confluence, right to the east of the village of Kabal Chen, without our having found in the outskirts of this hamlet any clues allowing us to suppose that there was a corresponding bridge there over the great Stung, which the road marked by our bridge must however also have crossed.

The piers and the roadway are entirely made of limonite with 8 arches, including 3 main ones. Two sandstone guardrails supported the body of a Naga whose outstretched heads were raised at the entrances. Numbering 9, the serpent heads draw an oval 1 m high. 80, in the center of which is represented a diademed and jeweled character, seated in the linear attitude of the meditating Buddha.

The width of the roadway is 9 metres between the cordous and its length, oriented W.-E., is 33 metres. The downstream side suffered the most from the collapses, the downstream side still has its guardrail almost intact with its two bridgeheads.

Lajonquiere, 1911