Prasat Prang Koh Ker

One of the iconic temples of the ancient Khmer Empire, Prasat Prang is a giant seven-level stepped pyramid temple attributed to the reign of King Jayavarman IV and the 10th century. It is the highlight of the Koh Ker group of temples that was, for a brief period, the ancient capital of the empire before it returned to Angkor (Yasodharapuru) in present-day Siem Reap.

Enclosed by a laterite wall, Prasat Prang is preceded on its eastern side by Prasat Thom along an east-west axis. On this same axis is Prasat Srot, all together forming one entire temple complex.

There are several pyramid-temples across the ancient Khmer Empire and Prasat Prang at Koh Ker is the largest and most significant, with a height of 35m and a width of 60m. As mentioned, it features seven levels (5 tiers starting from the bottom and 2 temple base levels at the top, by some counts), each 5m high reducing in width as they proceed to the top which terminates in an edifice for a giant linga. On its eastern front, a grand staircase provided access to the top level.

This linga was supported by a giant pedestal decorated with standing lions below which was a well that extended down for 12.5m according to historical notes. It is only speculated as to whether all of this (the linga and pedestal) would have been enclosed in a temple that has fallen in ruin, or perhaps never completed, see the historical notes below for Parmentier’s illustrated restitution.

Visiting Prasat Prang

On visiting Koh Ker, you may want to head immediately to the Prang so as to get the morning light on the main eastern face and then return to the normal route around the temple sites. Of course, you can always return again before closing time for that sunset shot as the sun falls behind the temple (In the morning, let the ticket stamper know that you want to visit twice).

A modern staircase has been added on the northern side for visitors to reach the top and get spectacular views over the countryside and the temples below.

Via the western wall, you head out and see a small but beautiful elephant statue and shrine beside a large mound that is colloquially known as the Tomb of the White Elephant.

See here for more info on visiting the Koh Ker Group.

Photos from the 2021 visit

Historical Images

Property of EFEO Fonds Cambodge, date unknown

The linga pedestal and site plan via L’art Khmer Classique Monuments Nord East, Henri Parmentier, 1939

Historical Notes

E. Lunet de Lajonquiere’s report from the early 1900s (translated from French)

Prang. The western part of the enclosure is given the name of Prang, but this designates more specifically a high pyramid covered with sandstone. This pyramid, 55 meters wide at the base. which is square, rises up to forty meters in height. It has seven floors. Stairs, which interrupt, one on each face, the profiling of these terraces, permitting access the different floors and the upper terrace which supports some constructions. On the different floors were erected various shrines which are all in very poor condition. The entire pyramid is, moreover, covered with trees which disintegrate the sandstone foundations and no longer allow us to grasp its general outline. Apart from a few sculptures on the aedicules of the platform superior, it does not appear to have received any ornamentation.

This construction is included in an enclosure formed by a limonite wall, with a cap, thicker and higher than that which forms the third enclosure of the sanctuary. The middle wall is attached to this system. A line of cylindrical bollards. moldings, finished with a conical point and placed at one meter distance, follows the crest of the coping. We have seen that the two parts of the general enclosure communicate through a small passage building that interrupts the party wall at the intersection of the E-W. In the west face of the Prang enclosure, at the intersection of the same axis, a doorway without ornamentation has also been set up which allows communication with the outside. In front of this doorway rises a conical mound with regular shapes, placed on the prolongation of the major axis and which appears artificial; it is currently covered with shrubs and tall grass.

Inventaire descriptif des monuments du Cambodge, E. Lunet de Lajonquière, 1902

Henri Parmentier’s site report from 1939 (translated from French)

Le Pran, which I had cleared in 1929 and whose staircase I cleared in 1930, is a pyramid with 7 floors, with a single staircase on the east face.

The five levels that form the pyramid proper seem the same and the difference in appearance of the two lower ones, with the impression of decoration in bosses that they give, comes only from their incompleteness. Those that are finished offer a bare surface between two cove profiles, of three elements. All of this is sandstone and hides a laterite infrastructure. The sixth tier starting from below is the proper foundation of a higher building; its profile changes by the addition in the central bare of a ribbed torus between moldings in partial symmetry. Above, rise the rough sandstone walls of a square-toothed tower with a credenza at the bottom, false doors on the side faces with steps that fall almost into the void, and a door to the east. The walls barely rise to the level of the true lintel of the enormous bay.

This rather rough and unfinished construction encloses and seems to partially bury a formidable and very remarkable pedestal, decorated with Atlantean lions, four per side. This pedestal, which is finished down to the smallest detail, was ripped open by the treasure seekers and part of the lions on the west side of the lot on the lowest step.

The excavation of the looters shows inside the pedestal a square chamber from which descends a well; in the opposite faces N. and S., mortises seem to have received thin beams, support of a floor? The shaft still shows 19 courses of laterite with a depth of 12.5m up to the level of rubble that must have piled up there. The current masonry hardly leaves around the pedestal more than a meager circulation of 0.95m in front, much less still on the sides; the base does not allow turning from the outside around the wall. The threshold of the current door is at the height of the belt of lions. On the upper base is seen along the wall of the building a decorative miter hole.

At the foot of the Pran, in front, is an important stone table, but so crushed that it cannot be restored with complete certainty. It has the profile of a pedestal with lotus and coves and its upper surface is entirely occupied by a large rosette with a line, barely indicated. It seems that this set, which could be an enormous balipitha, a kind of offering table, was originally raised on a large support, laterite masonry 2m high. high placed in front of the pyramid at 6 m. approximately. The upper surface of the lower block shows a tongue groove which could have fixed the bottom of the huge piece.

The establishment of the statement of the Pran, insofar as one can trust dimensions taken on a building so ruined and which had to undergo important settlings, seems to indicate that the steps were almost equal in height, those of the center a little smaller. The lower seems smaller in this sense, but it also seems to be a bit buried. The steps increase slightly in width as one descends, but not in proportion to the widening of the steps. The line drawn by the angles of these does not appear to be a straight line, but a curve whose slight convexity is turned towards the axis; the dimensions give 62.64m for the lower side, 31.20m for the height of the upper terrace, 35 m. for the highest point of the present ruin.

The Prán is enclosed in an enclosure, one side of which is formed by wall west of the Prását Thom and the three others by a strong laterite wall with an enormous coping in the shape of a roof; this one is not less than 1.90m wide and it is furnished with large round finials spaced from 40 to 60 cm. from axis to axis. The western wall is only spanned, although its spikes are finished; they had to be posed while turned. The courtyard leaves a considerable space in front, less on the sides, small in the back. Blocks of laterite show the old support of some light constructions whose layout is impossible to know today. This enclosure has only one access, the gopura III West. Contrary to the clear assertion of L. de Lajonquière and his predecessors, there is no opening in the west wall, and the mound which is behind, much closer to the wall than it is. indicates it was completely separated both from the Pran and from the temple. It seems artificial and the slopes very steep, 10 to 45 and no rubble.

L’art Khmer Classique Monuments Nord East, 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..