🛕 Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm is one of the most photogenic and atmospheric temples at Angkor, famous for being deliberately left in a state of semi-ruin with great trees growing through and over the ancient stones. Built in the late 12th century by Jayavarman VII and originally named Rajavihara ("the royal monastery"), it was dedicated to the king's mother in the form of Prajnaparamita, the Buddhist perfection of wisdom.

Far more than a temple, Ta Prohm was a wealthy Buddhist monastery and centre of learning. Its Sanskrit foundation stele records an astonishing establishment: some 12,640 people served the temple directly, with tens of thousands more in surrounding villages supporting it, including 18 high priests and over 600 dancers. The inscription even lists its treasures — gold, pearls and silks — evoking the vanished splendour of the Khmer golden age.

When Angkor was cleared and restored in the 20th century, conservators chose to leave Ta Prohm largely as it was found, as a memorial to the power of nature over human works. The result is its signature sight: enormous silk-cotton trees (Tetrameles nudiflora) and strangler figs whose roots pour over and prise apart the galleries. The temple reached global fame as a filming location for Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001).

Because the ruin is fragile, teams (led in recent decades by the Archaeological Survey of India) have carried out careful stabilisation, and some famous trees have had to be supported or lost to storms. It is one of Angkor's busiest temples — visit early or late to photograph the celebrated tree-and-stone tableaux without the crowds.