| What is it? |
Prasat Ta Prohm (ប្រាសាទតាព្រហ្) is a famous Buddhist temple in the jungle of Cambodia that is overgrown with tree roots! |
| What makes it historical? |
King Jayavarman VII built Ta Prohm in 1186 A.D. in honor of his family. He modeled the images of Prajnaparamita (wisdom) after his mother, and dedicated the northern and southern temples to his guru and elder brother, respectively! (His father got a whole separate temple called Preah Khan.)
This was a Mahayana Buddhist monastery and university, home to 12,500 people! It was built as a flat temple with a moat and entrances at each of the cardinal directions with some face towers, like those at Bayon added later. The temple fell into ruin alongside the Khmer Empire in the 15th Century AD and was abandoned all the way until the 1930s when restoration work began! |
| How can I Help the Helpers? |
HERE’S HOW:
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| Where is this place? |
Since the roads leading to Ta Prohm are unnamed, here are the GPS coordinates: 13.4348° N, 103.8893° E
From Battambang: ~114mi (184km) — 1.9hrs
From Phnom Penh: ~202mi (326km) — 3.4hrs
From Serei Saophoan: ~69mi (112km) — 1.2hrs
From Siem Reap: ~8mi (13km) — 0.2hrs |
| When should I go? |
The grounds of Angkor Thom are open daily from 5:30 AM until 6:00 PM! |
