Thommanon Temple
Single-towered sandstone sanctuary with finely carved devatas, painstakingly rebuilt stone by stone.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Thommanon temple near Angkor Thom follows Henri Marchal, the young French architect named curator of Angkor in nineteen nineteen, who chose to dismantle this fallen sandstone ruin rather than simply prop it up. You'll hear about the Javanese technique he studied and first tested at Banteay Srei, numbering and resetting every stone by hand, and the decades of patient labor that followed. Look closely at the devatas carved into the walls, each pinching a flower the same graceful way.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Prasat Chau Say Tevoda
Twelfth-century sandstone sanctuary rebuilt stone by stone after thousands of its carved blocks were lost.
Banteay Samre Temple
Angkor Wat-style sandstone temple encircled by galleries, guarded by lions along a naga-lined walkway.
Baphuon Temple
Five-tier sandstone temple-mountain later reshaped into a giant reclining Buddha from its own dismantled stones.
Wat Athvea Temple
Twelfth-century sandstone shrine facing west like Angkor Wat, its carvings left unfinished mid-commission.
Prasat Preah Pithu Group
Cluster of five ruined Hindu and Buddhist sanctuaries with finely carved mythological lintels.
Ta Nei Temple
Jungle-shrouded Bayon-style ruin reachable only on foot, its carved stones recently restored rather than sold off.