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The temple complex of Angkor
Beng Mealea

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24-Aug-2005
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"Nor does it seem that Seller's "code" is confined to mythology.  In the jungles of Kampuchea the temple complex of Angkor looks as it could have been purpose-built as a precessional metaphor.  It has, for example, five gates to each of which leads a road bridging the crocodile-infested moat that surrounds the whole site.  Each of these roads is bordered by a row of gigantic stone figures, 108 per avenue, 54 on each side (540 statues in all) and each row carries a huge Naga serpent.  Furthermore, as Santillana and von Dechend point out in Hamlet's Mill, the figures do not 'carry' the serpent but are shown to 'pull' it, which indicates that these 540 statues are 'churning the Milky Ocean'.  The whole of Angkor 'thus turns out to be a colossal model set up with true Hindu fantasy and incongruousness' to express the idea of precession." 
 -  pages 260-261

 "Fingerprints of the The Gods" by Graham Hancock. "The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization"

Photo Gallery 1

Photo Gallery 2

A Chronology

Angkor Map

The Angkor Temples
* Diagrams also

Angkor Wat *
(1113-1150 A.D.)

Phnom Bakeng *
(9th-10th Century)

Angkor Thom
(1190-1210 A.D.)

Baksei Chamkrong
(947 A.D.)

Banteay Kdei
or the Citadel of
the Cells (1186 A.D.)

Banteay Samre
(1150-1175 A.D.)

Banteay Srey
the Citadel of
Women (967 A.D.)

Banyon Temple
(1190 A.D.)

Baphuon

Beng Mealea

Chau Say Tevoda
and Thommanon (1190 A.D.)

Eastern Mebon and Eastern Baray

Gopura or entry towers

Neak Pean
(1190-1210 A.D.)

Northern and Southern Khleangs (967 A.D.)

Phimeanakas
(1000-1025 A.D.)

Prasat Kravan
(10th Century)

Pre Rup
(961 A.D.)

Preah Khan,
the Labyrinth

Preah Pallilay
(end of the
12th century)

Preah Pithu

The Roluos Group
(850-893 A.D.)
   * Preah Ko Temple
   * Bakong Temple
  *  Lolei Temple

Royal Palace

Srah Srang
(1190-1210 A.D.)

Ta Keo *

Ta Nei
(12th Century)

Ta Prohm
(1186 A.D.)

Ta Som
(1190-1210 A.D.)

Tep Pranan
(late 9th century)

Terrace of the Elephants
(1190-1210 A.D.)

Terrace of
the Leper King
(1190-1210 A.D.)

'On the Royal Angkorian highway leading to the Great Preah Khan and beyond did the 12th century god-king his monument Beng Mealea build'.

With the decline was she slowly abandoned until it was forgotten by all.  A canopy of green closed over and only villagers existed.  Hundreds of years silently passed with the outside world finally returning in the late 1800s.  During the 20th century Beng Mealea was once again a stop-off point for travelers on their way to the Great Preah Khan.  By 1958 the diligent French had cleared away the undergrowth, too late, for the years of conflict were coming.  Few dared to venture afar and again did Beng Mealea sink back to the forest.

Reports of Beng Melea began circulating in the late 1990s.  A few intrepid souls brought back tales of being escorted by villagers to a lost temple buried under the vegetation.  Credible tales, but photos brought back as evidence were murky and difficult to verify.  Little light passed through the canopy and vegetation covered it all.  Still, more visitors made the effort and once what was a journey out of David Livingston became a day-trip from he town.

Today itself Beng Mealea itself has been demined although the surrounding area is clearly marked off-limits.  The local villagers are very kind and friendly however.  Beng Mealea lies 2 hours from Siem Reap by a rutted road and most difficult to get to in the monsoon season.

Romantically draped in jungle vegetation, Beng Melea offers visitors a chance to discover Angkor all over again, but the jungle threatens to crush the ruins. This photo was taken by Molly Ball
The local guide points to a pile of large grey stones-once the roof of a majestic gallery, now rubble. That one, he says, collapsed a few months ago. You climb through centuries-old doorways, adorned with intricate carvings, over pile after pile of such stones. He points to another one-that one collapsed just last month. Beng Melea, a breathtakingly beautiful temple 60 km from Angkor, is falling apart.
And if it continues to do so, one of the Angkor era's most significant monuments could be lost.

The Cambodia Daily , WEEKEND Saturday, November 16-17, 2002

Before Angkor

 A Model for the Larger Angkor Wat, Beng Melea Is a Secluded, Worn Beauty

By Molly Ball
The Cambodia Daily

Beng Melea's doorways and lintels are elaborately decorated with scenes from ancient Khmer legend.This photo was taken by Molly BallCultural officials have decided that Beng Melea should stay that way forever-and that means making sure it doesn't deteriorate further. Even the longest-term plans for the site do not include full restoration, Ros Borath says. Instead, the idea is to "restore it partially, but not completely like Angkor Wat-that would be impossible." Beng Melea will be left in its appealingly
"wild, romantic" state, similar to Angkor's popular Ta Prohm-but still more untamed.

"Far from traditional circuits, the site of Beng Melea remains nevertheless a jewel of Khmer art," states a report written in August by a team from the government's Apsara Authority. "One can experience the emotion of the first discoverers of the Khmer monuments, faced with this sandstone temple from the beginning of the 12th century, still surrounded by the mystery of the jungle that encircles it.

"This same jungle brings, as in many other magical sites in Cambodia, at once its protective, encasing force but also its natural excess, shattering sometimes in its wake centuries of Khmer art."

Beng Melea is not on the verge of complete collapse, Apsara Deputy Director Ros Borath says. But measures do need to be taken to shore it up and "make it more visitable." As it is, this fragile jewel is not totally safe for tourists.

The tourists are coming to Beng Melea anyway-a steady trickle of those who insist on straying from the beaten path.

Right now, the temple's condition "has many problems, especially falling trees," says Tamara Teneishvili of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. "Many of the trees are at the end of their lives."

In some cases, the best way to stabilize the temple may be to figure out how to keep in place trees that have already died, she said.

One thing that is no longer a danger to temple-goers is land mines. Contrary to the picturesque signs at the temple's entrance ("Visitors Beware This Area Is Mined"), Halo Trust finished demining the temple and its immediate surrounding area earlier this year.

Ironically, the less dangerous Beng Melea is, the more vulnerable it is to looters-who have already caused plenty of damage not only to the temple's cultural value but also to its stability.

"Demining can allow traffickers [of artifacts] to operate if it's done before a permanent presence arrives," Unesco country representative Etienne Clement said in September. "Beng Melea was not accessible, and then [when it became more accessible] the robbers came."

Guards are now posted at the site; the military-uniformed guard at the entrance demands $2 or $3 from foreign tourists, money that surely never makes it into preservation coffers. Ros Borath says Apsara is moving to establish more control over the site.

Apsara is also studying Beng Melea in order to plan for its future-from propping up precarious galleries to building a parking area. Especially needed is a walkway to take tourists through the structure.

But these plans are in their infancy, and they will have to be carried out on a relative shoestring: Since Beng Melea isn't part of the Angkor World Heritage Site, it is unlikely to attract international funding.
Beng Melea is not currently a candidate for World Heritage inscription, Teneishvili says, but it is possible that, after further study, the Angkor site could eventually be extended to include it. Until then, Apsara is responsible for Beng Melea.

"We are paying a lot of attention to this monument, where nothing has been done for a long time," Ros Borath says. "But it is very far."

A car ride of at least three hours down a bumpy dirt road from Siem Reap town, Beng Melea is more accessible than some other remote jewels, such as Preah Vihear, on the Thai border, or Banteay Chhmar, in Banteay Meanchey province. But it is not part of the 450-sq-km Angkor World Heritage Site and merits, if anything, only a few lines in most guidebooks.

"I call it the 'Lost Temple in the Jungle,'" says Laurent Holdener, whose Terre Cambodge tour company leads groups to the site.

The 45-meter-wide moat surrounding Beng Melea is filled with thriving vegetation, giving it a wild, brambly look. Huge trees grow from the temple's walls, roots dribbling languidly down the stone.
Local folklore adds a touch of mystery: In one gallery, one of the few with an intact roof, tigers are said to have lived not long ago. And local villagers say they hear ghostly classical music from the direction of the temple at night.

For scholars it looms larger. Built at the end of the 11th century or the beginning of the 12th century, Beng Melea "was in many ways the forerunner of Angkor Wat," scholar Lawrence Palmer Briggs writes.

Many believe Beng Melea was the direct model for Cambodia's most famous temple. Beng Melea's architects pioneered the use of covered galleries, vaulted and held up by stone pillars, to connect inner enclosures. The temple is one of the first examples of the cruciform terrace-thought to be a place where the empire's king would hold public audiences-that would be a hallmark of the Angkorian style.

Most of its pillars and walls are undecorated-they may have once featured painted frescoes-but its lintels and doorframes are elaborately ornamented. There are apsaras foreshadowing the famous dancers of Angkor Wat and a crude version of the "Churning of the Sea of Milk," Angkor Wat's most famous bas-relief.

Beng Melea's geographical position is significant, too. "Beng Melea was a crossroads-the center of a communication network," says Im Sokrithy, an archaeologist with Apsara.

Ancient highways, visible today only in satellite photographs, connected Angkor to Beng Melea and Beng Melea to Koh Ker (the 10th-century capital and temple in central Preah Vihear province), Preah Vihear and northern Vietnam. Another road from Beng Melea led southeast to Preah Khan Kompong Svay, in what is now Kompong Svay district, Kompong Thom province.

More than any particular feature, though, it is Beng Melea's awesome unity that impresses scholars and tourists alike. It is an enormous site, more than 1 square km in area; because of its overgrown state, the whole is impossible to comprehend, but even so it exudes a deep tranquillity-a sense of being frozen comfortably in time.

"There emanates from Beng Melea a harmony, powerful and sober, which permits to place this temple first among the first and to consider it the prototype, the classic and purified specimen of Khmer art," French scholar Georges Groslier writes.

Groslier's impression is recorded in his 1916 "A l'Ombre d'Angkor (In the Shadow of Angkor)." Beng Melea is much the same today.

It is a feeling of awe and discovery for which many are willing to spend the time and money required. Locals say 10 to 15 foreigners visit on an average day.

Frenchman Jean-Paul Orth and his three traveling companions came to Cambodia chiefly to see Angkor, he says. But then they noticed a sentence about Beng Melea in their guidebook.
"How could one not feel like an explorer?" it said.

Orth and his friends promptly booked a tour to Beng Melea. (The going rate for a guided day-trip to Beng Melea starts around $50.)

Many cultural officials and tour operators see potential in the temple-especially if the road, which currently threatens to collapse in several places, improves.

"We get very good feedback from people" who visit Beng Melea, says Wolf Kennel, marketing manager for Asian Trails. In the three years his company has offered tours to Beng Melea, the number of customers has steadily increased, he says. "It has excellent potential. But it is not for everyone."

Beng Melea's niche is "adventure tourism"-bold, usually young travelers looking for a unique, preferably rugged experience.

"The temple visit is pretty hard. You are climbing stones, and it is pretty physical," Holdener says. "Old people cannot do it, it is not for people who want comfort."

For many, that's just the point. Asked why she and her companion-outfitted in shorts, athletic sandals and backpacks-came all the way to Beng Melea, Japanese tourist Tomomi Fujinami, 28, says, "I feel it's an adventure."

Beng Melea "is beautiful, but undiscovered," she says. And that's the perfect reason to go and discover it.