Pre-Angkorian brick

Sambor Prei Kuk

Seeing what Khmer architecture looked like before Angkor

Temples and ruinsType

In short

Sambor Prei Kuk is a group of brick temple towers in Kampong Thom province, built in the early 7th century as the capital of the Chenla kingdom - two centuries before Angkor began. It was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017. The towers stand in open forest, and the octagonal plan of several of them appears nowhere else.

Checked

September 2026

Part of Heritage

At a glance

Visiting

Where: Kampong Thom province, roughly midway between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap
Status: UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed 2017
Built: Early 7th century, pre-Angkorian
Time needed: Two hours, and it breaks the Phnom Penh to Siem Reap drive neatly
Material: Brick rather than sandstone - a completely different look

Questions travellers ask

Is it worth stopping?

If you are driving between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap anyway, it is the best possible use of two hours of that day.

Nearby

Also in Preah Vihear and the north

See all

Cliff-top UNESCO site

Preah Vihear temple

Preah Vihear is an 11th-century Shiva temple built along a north-south axis on the Dangrek escarpment, ending at a cliff that drops several hundred metres to…

Where: Preah Vihear province, on the Thai border, about 4 hours from Siem Reap
Status: UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed 2008

The other capital

Koh Ker

Koh Ker was briefly the capital of the Khmer Empire in the 10th century, and its signature monument is Prasat Thom - a seven-tiered sandstone pyramid…

Where: Preah Vihear province, about 2.5 hours from Siem Reap
Status: UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed 2023