Prasat Kravan Temple

Address: Prasat Kravan, Angkor, near Siem Reap, Cambodia

Website: https://www.tourismcambodia.org

Hours: Angkor Archaeological Park generally 5:00am-6:00pm (entry times depend on the multi-day pass purchased)

Admission: Temple entry free; some Angkor complex ticketing applies-visit included with Angkor Archaeological Park pass (1-day, 3-day or 7-day options)

Prasat Kravan is a compact 10th-century temple complex in the Angkor area near Siem Reap, Cambodia, notable for its brick construction and carved reliefs. The complex sits close to other mid-period Angkor monuments and is part of the Angkor archaeological zone.

The principal visual feature is a row of five brick towers set on a single platform, each housing a sanctuary and carved decorative elements in sandstone. The site is comparatively small and is usually visited as part of a circuit of nearby temples.

Built in the 10th century during the Angkorian era, the complex reflects the brick-and-sandstone building techniques of that period and includes devotional carvings that illustrate contemporary religious iconography. It has been conserved and examined by archaeologists and heritage managers working in the Angkor area.

The temple is located a short distance east of the Phnom Bakheng hill and is within the greater Siem Reap/Angkor archaeological region in northwestern Cambodia.

• Construction and art: Composed primarily of brick, the complex features five towers on a single raised terrace and contains carved sandstone bas-reliefs from the 10th century.

The car park lies to the rear of the temple; walk around to the front, eastern side, where little remains but the foundations of the ancillary structures and the five brick towers aligned north to south. The celebrated brick carvings are found within two of them.

The central tower. Once home to an image of Vishnu, the central sanctuary is carved with the god’s avatars. On the western wall facing you is the eight-armed Vishnu-Vasudeva-Narayana, surrounded by rows of devotees. The southern wall shows Vamana, Vishnu’s dwarf avatar who strides across water, earth and heaven to claim the universe, while the north wall depicts a four-armed Vishnu astride his mount, the Garuda.

The northern tower. The northernmost tower, restored to improve upon earlier work of the 1960s, is thought to have housed an image of Lakshmi, Vishnu’s consort, as its carvings show the goddess in various incarnations.

Prasat Kravan is within the Angkor Archaeological Park, a short drive from central Siem Reap (about 10-15 minutes). Most visitors reach the temple by tuk-tuk or bicycle as part of a circuit of nearby Angkor monuments; include it on the Small Circuit itinerary.

• Prasat Kravan is less crowded early in the morning-visit between Angkor Wat and mid-morning to avoid peak flows at Ta Prohm and Bayon.
• Look closely at the five brick towers' bas-reliefs-fragments of Vishnu and Lakshmi remain and the bricks are unusually well arranged.
• Bring a magnifying lens or a good camera to appreciate the surviving lintel carvings embedded in the later walls.

Prasat Kravan is one of the most beautiful brick monuments of the Angkor era. Its central sanctuary was dedicated to Vishnu in 921, apparently during the reign of Harshavarman I or Isanavarman II, who ruled from Angkor around the same time that Jayavarman IV established a rival capital at Koh Ker. The temple honoured ancestral spirits in the name of Vishnu and his consort Lakshmi.

Bas-reliefs carved into brick. Although the image of Vishnu is long gone, Prasat Kravan preserves extraordinary bas-relief carvings on the interior walls of two of its five towers. Cut directly into the brick, these are the only known instance of such adornment anywhere in the Angkorian world.

Seamless brickwork. The most striking feature on first sight is the nearly seamless brick construction, the blocks originally bonded with an adhesive made of vegetable sap. The temple seen today owes much to French restoration, which replaced missing or damaged bricks with ones labelled CA, for Conservation d’Angkor. The south and central towers rise in diminishing tiers, a false perspective that makes them appear taller than they are, while the exterior offers false doors, elaborate plinths and empty niches that lend the walls depth and variety.