Longvek

Longvek (often spelled Lovek) is a historic Cambodian capital that served as the kingdom’s seat in the 16th century. It rose to prominence after the decline of Angkor and became an important regional political and trading centre.

Remains are primarily earthworks, brick foundations and ruined temple sites spread over a diffuse archaeological area rather than a single intact complex. The site offers visible traces of a fortified urban core and riverside port features that indicate Longvek’s role in regional trade and diplomacy.

Established as a royal capital in the early to mid 1500s, Longvek was Cambodia’s principal seat of power through much of the 16th century. The city was sacked by Siamese forces in the late 16th century, after which its political importance declined and the court moved elsewhere.

Located in south-central Cambodia, the site sits roughly 40 km north-west of Phnom Penh on the low-lying plains that connect to the Tonle Sap and Mekong river systems. The landscape is predominantly flat floodplain and agricultural land.

• Visiting season: Best visited in the dry season, roughly November to April, when river travel and overland access are easiest.
• Access: About 40 km north-west of Phnom Penh, reachable by road and local river transport from the surrounding provinces.

What to See#

• Royal city site: Contains the remains of the late 16th-century royal precinct and urban core, with pottery, brick foundations and scattered temple ruins that mark the city’s extent during its time as capital.
• River port remains: Riverside area where goods were landed and ships could connect the city to inland waterways and regional trade routes.

After the Khmer abandoned Angkor and briefly ruled from Phnom Penh, King Ang Chan moved the capital to Longvek, some 40 km north of present-day Phnom Penh. The kingdom recovered its prosperity after repelling invading Siamese armies at the battle of Siem Reap in 1525 - a name meaning “defeat of the Siamese” - and the new capital flourished for decades.

If the abandonment of Angkor remains a much-debated mystery, the destruction of Longvek in 1594 is a starker, if less discussed, fact. A Siamese army razed the city and carried off its treasures, including the Emerald Buddha. Legend holds that an impenetrable forest once shielded the capital, and that the Siamese fired cannons loaded with coins into the woods; impoverished villagers hacked the forest apart hunting for the money, clearing the invaders’ path. Soon afterwards King Chey Chettha II relocated the court to Oudong in 1618 and turned to Vietnam for help against Siam, beginning some 250 years in which Cambodia ceded territory and influence alternately to one neighbour and then the other. Because the city was so completely annihilated and then abandoned, almost nothing of it survives today.