Perhaps one of the other temples that should be a must on any visitors' itinerary is the smaller 9th century temple of Ta Prohm. After 400 years of overgrown isolation French archaeologists finally uncovered this temple in 1947. Rather than completely clear away debris to allow access as other temples have been cleared, Ta Prohm was considered so unique that it is presented today very much as it was rediscovered. This temple is smaller consisting of numerous shrines and library structures connected by walkways and galleries where much of the arched roof structures have fallen in. What makes Ta Prohm so unique are the 600 year old Banyan like silk-cotton trees growing out of the stone structures, roofs and walls. It is a paradox that, while these trees would have hastened the collapse of the stone work, these same trees have become such an integral part of the structure they are infact helping to hold sections of the temple together. Ta Prohm is an amazing site being attractive in its ancient architecture and awesome in it's ravaged display of the effects of nature and time.
Ta Prohm’s state of ruin is a state of beauty, which is investigated with delight and left with regret.
Ta Prohm is the undisputed capital of the kingdom of the Trees. It has been left untouched by archaeologists except for the clearing of a path for visitors and structural strengthening to stave of further deterioration. Because of its natural state, it is possible to experience at this temple the wonder of the early explorers when they came upon these monuments in the middle of the nineteenth century.
Shrouded in dense jungle the temple of Ta Prohm is ethereal in aspect and conjures up a romantic aura. Fig, banyan and kapok trees spread their gigantic roots over stones, probing walls and terraces apart, as their branches and leaves intertwine to form a roof over the structures. Trunks of trees twist amongst stone pillars. The strange, haunted charm of the place entwines itself about you as you go, as inescapably as the roots have wound themselves about the walls and towers’, wrote a visitor 40 years ago.
A Sanskrit inscription on stone, still in place, gives details of the temple. Ta Prohm 3,140 villages. It took 79,365 people to maintain the temple including 18 great priests, 2,740 officials, 2,202 assistants and 615 dancers. Among the property belonging to the temple was a set of golden dishes weighing more than 500 kilograms, 35 diamonds, 40,620 pearls, 4,540 precious stones, 876 veils from China, 512 silk beds and 523 parasols. Even considering that these numbers were probably exaggerated to glorify the king, Ta Prohm must have been an important and impressive monument.
Ta Prohm is among the largest of the monuments in the Angkor complex, the inscription gives an idea of the size of the temple. The complex included 260 statues of gods, 39 towers with pinnacles and 566 groups of residences. Ta Prohm comprises a series of long low buildings standing on one level, which are enclosed by rectangular laterite wall (600 by 1,000 meters, 1,959 by 3,281 feet). Only traces of the wall are still visible. The center of the monument is reached by a series of towers connected with passages. This arrangement forms a “sort of sacred way into the heart of the monument”; three-square galleries enclose the area.
Some areas of the temple are impassable and others are accessible only by narrow dark passages.
The boundaries of the exterior wall are recognizable on the west by a stone entry tower in the shape of a cross, with an upper portion in the form of four faces, one looking towards each of the cardinal points. The approach to the west entrance of the temple is a path through the forest. After about 350 meters (1,148 feet) there is a stone terrace in the shape of a cross. Remains of lions, serpent balustrades and mythical creatures lie scattered in the area.
Nature’s dual role of destroyer and consoler can be seen everywhere around; strangling on the one hand, and healing on the other; no sooner splitting the carved stones asunder than she dresses their wounds with cool, velvety mosses, and binds them with her most delicate tendrils; a conflict of moods so contradictory and feminine as to prove once more if proof were needed how well “ Dame “Nature merits her feminine title. The next causeway with serpent balustrades on each side leads to an entry tower in the first enclosure around the temple. Inside, on the right, niches along the inner wall contain images of the Buddha.
The temple is held in a stranglehold of trees. Stone and wood clasp each other in grim hostility; yet all is silent and still, without any visible movement to indicate their struggle as if they were wrestlers suddenly petrified, struck motionless in the middle of a fight, the rounds in this battle were not measured by minutes, but by centuries.
