Banteay Srei, Siem Reap
Banteay Srei in Siem Reap is a 10th-century temple famed for intricate pink sandstone carvings, drawing visitors keen on Angkor's finest ancient artistry.
Banteay Srei, Siem Reap
Banteay Srei stands about twenty-five kilometres north-east of the main Angkor group and is unlike the rest of it in almost every way. It was consecrated in 967, two centuries before Angkor Wat, and was built not by a king but by a Brahmin who was tutor to one.
It is small - the doorways are barely more than human height - and built from a hard pink sandstone that takes detail no other stone at Angkor will hold. The carving is consequently the finest in Cambodia: deep, crisp, almost undercut, covering pediments and lintels with scenes from the Ramayana and with the female figures, devatas, that gave the temple its modern name, the citadel of women.
Because the reliefs are the point, it repays a slow visit in low light. The road out passes through farmland and villages, so it is usually combined with the Kbal Spean river carvings further on.
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