Toap Chey Thom Temple

Also known as Prasat Toab Chey Thom and Torp Chey Thom. It is a ruinous walled sandstone temple that was a common feature along the ancient royal road network along the section from Angkor to Preah Khan (of Kampong Svay). French archeologists recorded this temple type as “Temples d’étape” or staging place. The site is only cleared around its exterior perimeter while internally of its outer wall (as of 2021) it remains mostly uncleared. 

The site features an outer laterite wall that had a grand entrance gopura mated to a large and beautiful (but ruinous) columned cruciform terrace that was preceded by a bollarded entranceway. Inside the walled enclosure, two very beautiful “library” buildings can be seen and remnants of the central shrine although it’s difficult to access. Several lintels can still be seen albeit quite decayed. Doorways on the entrances are framed on either side with beautifully carved pilasters. 

Only a reminder of the east-facing bollarded entranceway is seen via partly exposed buried bollards preceding the grand entrance terrace. The terrace is quite large and you will be instantly reminded of Chau Say Tevoda near Angkor Thom. The eastern entrance gopura features some beautiful windows and artwork on the pilasters, the north and west entrances are much smaller, while the southern entrance is large and elongated indicating some kind of purpose. The two libraries feature beautiful decoration around the eaves and cornices and a windowed false “second-level”.

The central shrine itself is hard to access, but is small and entrances on each side with a mandapa or short hall leading east.

It is a fascinating site that considering its architecture and features must have been constructed at a height of the empire and it would have left ancient travelers in awe (and still does today!).

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There is no marker on how to access the site from the road but you can follow a foot trail off the road between two wooden houses (here) leading around a small home on stilts (the caretaker’s house?) about 200 m from the road. There is also a trail connecting to the nearby Toap Chey site.