Heritage site
Ov Laok
ប្រាសាទឪឡោក
Ov Laok (ប្រាសាទឪឡោក) is a ruined 7th-century temple, mostly of brick, near Bakong, about 13 kilometers (8 miles) from the center of Siem Reap.[1][2] It is generally placed in the Roluos group, the site of the Khmer capital for most of the 9th century.[1] It is also written Prasat Ov Laok and Prasat Olok.[2]
The temple
Three brick shrines stand in a row from north to south, their entrances facing east. A fourth shrine, of laterite, stands at the north end.[1] The four share a common base, and the brick shrines had sandstone door frames.[2] Weathering has worn the shrines almost to the ground. What remains are their lower walls, a few broken colonnettes, carved friezes with human figures, moonstones at the entrances, pieces of stone pedestals, part of a sandstone door frame and a great many loose bricks.[1]
Photographs taken by the École française d'Extrême-Orient in the early 20th century show the temple already in ruins. They also record carved lintels, colonnettes, statues of Vishnu and of Garuda, a stone panel of the nine deities (Navagraha) and a rubbing of an inscription.[1] Lintels from Ov Laok and a pre-Angkorian statue of Vishnu are on display at the Angkor National Museum. The lintels are in the Kampong Preah style of the 700s and 800s.[1]
Inscriptions
Two inscriptions come from the southern shrine, listed as K.807 and K.808 in Cœdès's Inscriptions du Cambodge (1952). The older one is on a reused slab, with 11 lines in pre-Angkorian script. It records gifts of workers, cattle and rice fields to the gods Vrishabhadhvaja (Shiva) and Naimisheshvara. The other is carved on the south jamb of the entrance and holds about a dozen lines of a poem in praise of King Indravarman, in Cœdès's reading the probable author of the 9th-century changes to the temple.[2]
Visiting
The temple is about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from National Road 6 and 900 meters (980 yards) from Bakong, across rice fields among village houses and schools. Village roads can be bumpy, dusty or muddy depending on the season. On some routes international visitors must show an Angkor Pass. Preah Ko, Lolei and Prei Monti are nearby.[1]
References