Ta Prohm, the temple in the roots

A royal monastery left to the forest, where giant silk-cotton and strangler fig trees pour their roots over galleries and doorways like slow grey waterfalls.

Area

Angkor core

Start from

Siem Reap town

Distance

about 10 km from town

Time needed

half a day

Best season

Wet season (June – October) for the greenest moss; early morning all year

Difficulty

Easy

Transport

Tuk-tuk or bicycle

Tickets & rules

Angkor Pass; covered shoulders and knees

Why go

Ta Prohm is the temple where you understand what Angkor must have looked like to the first European explorers. When the French began clearing the ruins in the early twentieth century, they decided to leave this one largely as they found it, and the result is a place where architecture and forest are locked in an embrace that has lasted for centuries.

Huge silk-cotton trees, their trunks pale and smooth, sit on top of galleries with their roots clamped around the stones. Strangler figs creep through windows and split lintels. Parakeets call from the canopy and the light comes down green. Even with the crowds, there are corners here, especially at the back of the complex, where you hear only birds and dripping water.

It is also a good lesson in conservation. The trees that make the place beautiful are also slowly pulling it apart, and if you look closely you will see discreet supports, wooden walkways and braced walls that hold the balance.

The story

Ta Prohm was founded in 1186 by Jayavarman VII as a Buddhist monastery dedicated to his mother, who was represented as Prajnaparamita, the personification of wisdom. Its original name was Rajavihara, the royal monastery. At its height it was not a ruin in a forest but a living institution: a stone inscription found here says that it was home to thousands of people, including eighteen high priests and more than six hundred dancers, and that over twelve thousand people lived and worked in the temple itself.

The same inscription records that the temple was supplied by tens of thousands of villagers and lists its treasures: tons of gold and silver dishes, thousands of pearls, and Chinese silk. Even the amount of rice, honey and wax it received is noted. Reading these figures helps you imagine the noise and smell of the place eight centuries ago.

In 2001 the temple appeared in the film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and the tree that frames a collapsed doorway in the eastern section has been known as the Tomb Raider tree ever since. A team from the Archaeological Survey of India has been restoring the temple for years, rebuilding galleries stone by stone while leaving the great trees in place.

Look for the famous carving on a pillar in a western courtyard that appears to show a stegosaurus. Most likely it is a rhinoceros or a boar against a decorative background of leaves, but it has inspired endless theories.

Getting there

Ta Prohm lies on the small circuit, about a kilometre east of Ta Keo. Most tuk-tuks drop you at the western entrance and pick you up on the east side, so you walk through the whole temple in one direction.

By bicycle, it is a pleasant ride from Angkor Thom through the Victory Gate or along the road past Ta Keo.

A suggested plan

1. 7:00Arrive at opening to have the main courtyards to yourself for a little while.
2. 7:00 – 8:00Walk from west to east through the central sanctuary, following the wooden walkways.
3. 8:00 – 8:30Find the Tomb Raider tree and the Hall of Dancers, then explore the quieter outer galleries.
4. 8:30 – 9:30Exit to the east and ride on to Banteay Kdei and Srah Srang, a few minutes away.

Where to stay

There is no accommodation in the park. A guesthouse in town on the eastern bank of the river makes the morning ride to Ta Prohm very quick.

Good to know

• Morning light filtering through the canopy is lovely; by midday the courtyards are both bright and crowded.
• Some walkways are one-way; follow the signs to keep the flow comfortable.
• A wide-angle lens helps with the enormous trees.
• In the wet season the moss is at its greenest, but the stones are slippery.