Wat Baray (Takeo)

Surrounded by a moat that is unusually accessed from the west, are the partially standing remains of a rectangular brick temple that is today flanked by a pagoda and monastery. It’s also called Choub Poul Temple of Wat Baray.

The brick temple is a little unusual in that it is a rectangular construction and devoid of the usual false doors and bold pilasters common to most brick temples. It opens to the east with a sandstone doorframe above which you can see a pediment formed in brick and on either side of the door embossed brickwork that perhaps once held some form of artwork in its final rendering or perhaps was never completed. You can also notice the embossed pilasters at each corner and remnants of elaborate brickwork around the base.

Inside the temple today sits an old sema stone and remnants of the pedestal that featured a spout which likely transferred water to the external spot that can still be seen in the center of the north wall of the temple.

An inscription was recorded from the doorframe and registered under K. 789 featuring 2 lines of Sanskrit recording the donation made to Hari by the Bhagavata family of Thnal Vnah, translated by Georges Coedes (IC V) while there is no date, he notes it as pre-Angkorian.

The temple is fronted on its east side by a charming old pagoda and a little further over to the west is the monastery.

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..