Originally not part of Dvaravati and Pre-Angkorian Arts trip arranged by ICOMOS I participated with. On the free day in Siem Reap, the separate excursion to Koh Ker had been arranged by a small group of experts which I promptly joined after I heard their special tour. We left Siem Reap very early and reached Koh Ker at 9 AM to be the first group of visitors of that day. The local guide and ICOMOS experts explained to me that Koh Ker was the capital of Angkorian Empire for only about 25 years during the reign of King Jayavarman IV and his son. The reason why the king moved the capital to Koh Ker is still unknown, but most historians believe that it was political reason since the King usurped the throne of his nephew, so he moved the capital to Koh Ker where he ruled as local lord before he attacked his rival in Angkor.

The first thing I noted that Koh Ker’s location was quite dry and hot than Siem Reap area, one expert told me that the shortage of water maybe another reason why people moved the capital back to Angkor later. After we secured the ticket, the first temple was Prasat Pram Group, a complex of five buildings dedicated to Shiva, here our experts explained that the Koh Ker’s architectural style was clearly developed from Rolous Complex outside Siem Reap but the ratio of the whole structure had been expanded especially around the gate and lintel. The octagonal gate columns and lintel of Koh Ker style was bigger than other periods which decades later get the perfect form at Pre Rup Temple in Angkor. While I tried to understand the small details of differences of art styles, my focus was on one of Prasat Pram complex that covered by tree’s root that really eyes catching. Prasat Neang Khmau, famous for its black color stone temple was our next quick stop before we went to Prasat Damrei or elephant temple to see beautiful elephant statues and to see one of the best examples of Koh Ker style door lintel art. At Boeng Khnar temple we saw very big, ruined yoni and some rock cravings that once believe to decorate the sacred pond nearby. Then we drove to see unfinished Prasat Linga I, II, III and IV, these temples were built to house a very big stone lingam and yoni, the best one was at Prasat Linga I, possible the biggest yoni and lingam in Cambodia. All the temples were quite similar in style and most of them were unfinished since they had to stop after the king died.

After seeing such monotonous architectural style in many temples, I stated to get bored with Koh Ker, fortunately the highlight of Koh Ker arts was showed to me at Prasat Banteay Pir Chean at its gopura or entrance pavilion. Art historians believed that because the short time limit of Koh Ker construction, it was impossible to build the perfect stone gopura, so they needed a short cut by mixing stone façade and wooden framed roof. Instead of normal horseshoe shaped façade, Kor Ker artisans created the unique triangular shaped façade to match the triangular roof form, and borrowed wood craving styles and techniques and created the new art style which later developed into the famous Banteay Sri style. Another highlight of this trip was the special permission to see the restoration of Prasat Kra Chap. Archaeologists recently discovered that this is the best-preserved temple in Koh Ker. The details of stone craving were incredible, the Banteay Sri Styled façades were in perfect condition that at first, I thought it was a recent replica. It was a great privilege to see such new discovery before public. After lunch we went to Prasat Thom to see the famous pyramid. Actually, it was another unfinished temple. The multi-tiers platform or actually the very big multi-yoni is similar to Phnom Bakeng and Bakong temple in Siem Reap, so I did not find such structure unique. Actually, the next king built a smaller version in Angkor at Baksei Chamkrong Temple, but the so call pyramid was clearly popular among tourists. Our local guide told us that on clear day, we can see Preah Vihear Temple from the top of the pyramid.      

We spent our time in Koh Ker until 3PM, it was a really long day. The things I got from Koh Ker was the power of King Jayavarman IV to build the whole city with many stone temples in such a short time. The immense human and other resources of the empire must be incredibly rich to make all his project happened. One of ICOMOS experts told me that it was not surprised that Koh Ker was the place where the idea of God-king developed as Jayavarman IV considered himself a part of Shiva to legitimize his kingship. Another thing was the endless adjustment of ancient artists to match political agenda. They found the way to build a new style of art and standardized temple building form to shorten time and process resulting a better art. If those artisans did not have crisis in Koh Ker, we will never see stately Pre Rup or intricated Banteay Sri, for art development, Koh Ker is really a crucial period of Southeast Asian one.