Preah Kham Kampong Svay Temple
Preah Khan Kompong Svay is an enormous temple complex located about 100 kilometers due east of Angkor (about 170 kilometers by modern road). The name of the temple is a modern designation referring to the former name of the province (Kompong Svay) to distinguish it from the better-known Preah Khan temple in Angkor. Covering about twenty-five square kilometers, Preah Khan Kompong Svay is the largest Khmer-era monument ever constructed. Unfortunately, its remote location and high quality of workmanship have made it a frequent target for thieves, vandals, and even foreign museums, who systematically stripped the temple of much of its heritage as late as the 1990s and early 2000's.
The chronology of the site is not well established as only two sets of inscriptions have ever been located. The first is found in one of the four laterite towers at the northeast corner of the second enclosure. Unfortunately it is of no value to the archaeologist as it was deliberately defaced soon after it was carved. The second inscription, though incomplete, is more helpful. Located in the aptly named "inscription temple" to the south of the causeway leading to the central area of the temple, the inscription was written sometime during the reign of Suryavarman I, probably sometime after his conquest of Angkor around the year 1010. The incomplete inscription contains a long series of verses praising the Hindu god Shiva, followed by a shorter section praising the power of the Buddha, concluding with a stanza honoring Suryavarman I. Although both Hindu and Buddhist elements are commonly found in Angkorean architecture, it is unusual to find them together in the same document. Suryavarman I is known to have been a devotee of Shiva, explaining the deity's presence at the beginning of the document. However, the inclusion of the Buddha in the same document is something of a mystery.
According to the historian Claude Jacques, the Buddha may have been included in the inscription in order to placate the local inhabitants known as the Kuoy. These people, who were Mahayana Buddhists, held a monopoly on iron production. These "masters of iron and fire", as he calls them, provided a crucial service to the Angkorean kings. Iron production was essential to the Angkorean state--it provided not just weapons of war, but also agricultural tools as well as construction elements such as metal ties that were a critical element of temple construction.
The Kuoy practiced a type of ironmongery known as the "Catalan Method", as the process is also found throughout the ancient world. The technique involved using a charcoal furnace to attain temperatures in the range of 800-1000 degrees Celsius. Although the technique yielded only about 100 to 200 kilograms of pig iron at a time, it was sufficiently scalable that the Kuoy became a crucial client of the Angkorean state. The relationship appears to have been mutually beneficial, as the area around Preah Khan is littered with several centuries worth of debris from the smelting process. Most of the Kuoy iron was obtained from a nearby site called Phnom Dek, which even today is thought to be the richest source of iron ore in all of Cambodia.
By the time Suryavarman established the "Inscription Temple" the city of Preah Khan had already existed for several decades, or possibly much longer. The focal point of the iron production at the site was probably located around the baray (reservoir) now known as Beng Sre, located north of the temple's third enclosure. One of the oldest monuments at Preah Khan is the small sandstone shrine called Prasat Beng Sre located at the southeast corner of the reservoir. It is constructed in the Ta Keo style which flourished during the reign of King Jayavarman V.
Substantial expansion of the site probably took place during the first half of the 12th century. The temple's so-called third enclosure, a four meter high laterite wall, dates from this period. Running 1090 meters east-west, and 650 meters north-south, the wall is comparable in scale to similar constructions at Angkor Wat, Beng Mealea, and Phimai (in present-day Thailand). The rectangular area framed by the walls was probably populated for the most part by residents who lived in dwellings made of perishable materials. As these were long ago reclaimed by the forest, the stonework of Preah Khan appears to rise from the middle of the jungle, when in reality it once stood at the center of a sprawling city.
The city likely reached its greatest extent during the long reign of Jayavarman VII, Angkor's most prolific builder. According to historian Helen Ibbitson Jessup, the site may have served as the de facto headquarters of Jayavaraman VII's forces from 1177-82 as he prepared to retake Angkor from Cham rule. Even if that was not the case, the massive construction program sustained by Jayavarman VII during his rule would have required sustained output of ironwork, making the Preah Khan "factories" indispensable to the kingdom's prosperity. The handprint of Jayavarman VII is most strongly felt at nearby Prasat Preah Stung, a small temple located east of Preah Khan. Its central tower is carved in the likeness of four faces gazing toward the cardinal directions, an architectural motif unique to Jayavarman VII's reign (see also Bayon temple). The innermost enclosure of Preah Khan also features decorative motifs and structural features contemporary with Jayavarman VII's rule, suggesting that he was responsible for considerable remodeling of the core areas of the temple.
The decline of Preah Khan as an urban center probably took place gradually, as the military potential of the ironworks at the site were a significant incentive to maintain the city. Evidence for continued occupation of the city into the second half of the 13th century is to be found in the design of the small reservoirs and the long stone causeway that stand to the east of the temple's innermost enclosure. The design of this area is similar to those found at Phimai and Phnom Rung (in present-day Thailand) which are believed to be 13th century additions.
The isolation of the site proved an effective deterrent against looting and theft as late as the mid-20th century. When French investigators explored the site in the 1930s they found a considerable array of statuary, some of which was carted off to to museums in Paris. The ruins of the temple, though heavily damaged by natural forces, remained cut off from organized looting until as late as the 1980s, when uniformed military personnel could be found dismantling portions of the temple to obtain prized elements such as the carved apsara figures. According to the Cambodia Daily newspaper, wholesale looting ended around the year 2000 when guards hired the Ministry of Culture began protecting the site, and local education campaigns by the government and NGOs worked with villagers to promote awareness of the temple as a protected cultural property and magnet of sustainable tourism. Despite these efforts, the temple's distance from Siem Reap and other major cities have prevented it from becoming a major tourist destination in its own right.