Banteay Kdei Temple

 

  • Location: Siem reap, Cambodia
  • Recommended reason: Buddhist temple in Siem Reap
  • Ticket: If you have ticket of Angkor Wat, you can visit it.
  • Opening hours: 07:30-17:30
  • Recommended visit time: 1 hour

Where to go when traveling to Siem Reap? Most tourists visit Angkor Wat、Angkor Thom and Tonlé Sap Lake. Many tourists may miss this attraction - Banteay Kdei. Banteay Kdei is next to Srah Srang, where is one of the best places to watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat.

Banteay Kdei temple, Siem Reap

 

Banteay Kdei facts

Banteay Kdei is a temple built of sandstone. The entire temple of Banteay Kdei is long. Through the outermost gatehouse, the intricate walkway in the temple is deep. Some buildings are still intact. The Buddha statue enshrined in the outermost gate of the temple, the upper part of the statue on the right side has been sawn off and stolen, leaving only the crossed legs and the snake protecting the Buddha below. After passing the gate to the main hall of Banteay Kdei, in order to prevent the collapse of the monument, some of the stones at the top of the tower were tied by ropes.  After walking out of the East Gate of Banteay Kdei, you can see the platform of the Srah Srang. Banteay Kdei is a place where the king and queen are swimming after a nap.

 

Banteay Kdei map

The Banteay Kdei (Khmer: ប្រាសាទបន្ទាយក្តី) is located on the west side of the Srah Srang, southeast of the Ta Prohm, east of Angkor City. It is a Buddhist temple in Angkor, Cambodia. It is about 3.9 kilometers away from the must-see attraction Angkor Wat, about 4.4 kilometers away from Bayon Temple, and about 36.1 kilometers away from Beng Mealea.

 

Banteay Kdei history

Banteay Kdei temple, Siem Reap

Banteay Kdei was built between the late 12th and early 13th centuries. It was built by Jayavarman VII and is rumored to be the hand of the royal architect Kavindrarimathana. The architectural style is close to style of Bayon, Ta Prohm and Preah Khan, but the scale is small and is not complex. The Banteay Kdei has been ruined due to the wrong structure and the poor quality of the sandstone used. It is currently being refurbished. The Banteay Kdei has been occupied by monks several times in the past few centuries until the 1960s.

 

How to visit Banteay Kdei?

At Banteay Kdei, after entering the tower gate is a dance hall, in other words, there are many dancing fairy murals on the walls. The murals of the Tivatan goddess on the left and right sides are wonderfully carved and staggered by pink and pinkish green stones, which is one of the characteristics of the Banteay Kdei.

Continue to move forward, there are Tibetan classics on both sides, and then the caves where the gods were previously placed. No matter where you go, you can see the tower of the human face at the end of the gallery. Going forward is the sect of Nagas, the cross-shaped terrace over the old moat, and the tree and temple hug each other like which is in the Ta Prohm.

Further ahead is the Gate of west pagoda. There is no high tower in the temple, but a flat building. This temple is the essence of the ancient city of Angkor. The gate of four-sided pagoda is similar to the Bayon. It has a labyrinthine promenade with beautiful statues of Apsara on the pillars of the temple. From a door, you can see many doors that are stacked. Through these doors, you can see distant scenery, like a time-space tunnel, stepping into the prosperity and eternity of that century. The spotted Banteay Kdei is very quiet. Jayavarman VII and smiling Angkor's face tower is surrounded by trees, which is a little bit mysterious and a little bit ethereal.

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