Wat Aranya Raingsey

An old and characterful contemporary monastery and pagoda, also known as Wat Loak or Loak Pagoda, is located around 8km east of the Siem Reap city center. The site features an older pagoda that must be well over 100 years old adjacent to which a contemporary pagoda has been built, itself with some quite unique characteristics.

The older pagoda features a stunningly unique balan enclosing the Buddha, which takes styling cues from an 8th-century prasat.

On the northeastern side of the grounds, there is a small shrine housing sandstone remnants of an ancient temple including several plinths, fragments and a round, spouted, pedestal. It’s unclear to me at this stage whether the remnants were gathered from a nearby site or, preserved from this very location. The site doesn’t appear in historical French records to the best of my knowledge.

Update 2024 – In late 2023, during restoration works, 116 coins dating to between the 16th and 19th centuries were discovered buried at the foot of one of the internal pillars of the old pagoda, more at https://apsaraauthority.gov.kh. A selection of the coins is now on display at the Preah Norodom Sihanouk Angkor Museum.

Photos post restoration works, September 2024.

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..