What is the famous temple in Cambodia?

Ta Prohm, better known as the temple of trees, was featured on screen in 2001 when Angelina Jolie walked through the ruins of this exotic 12th Century Cambodian temple in her adventure as Lara Croft.

Originally called Rajavihara, the temple was built by Khmer King Jayavarman VII as a Buddhist monastery dedicated to his mother. Influenced by the Indian style of temple architecture, its layout has a set of concentric walled galleries, linking 39 towers around the main shrine of Prajnaparamita, a Bodhisattva. Records claim that the temple was like a town, controlling 3,140 villages and housing more than 12,500 people including monks and dancers. It was abandoned after the fall of the Khmer empire and later ransacked by marauders.

Its most distinctive feature is its state of ruin. French archaeologists left the temple in the way they had discovered it in 1947. Its intricately carved stone walls are completely engulfed in the stranglehold of centuries-old silk-cotton and strangler fig trees. Like giant tentacles, the roots not only twist their way all over the structure, but in most cases, even hold nature’s silent yet steely grip on man’s creation draws thousands of visitors to Ta Prohm every year.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Dehradun-based Forest Research Institute have been entrusted with the restoration and conservation of the temple. The challenge is to restore the temple without damaging the trees. The ASI had earlier successfully restored the Angkor Wat temple.

 

Picture Credit : Google