Heritage site
Spean Praptos
ស្ពានកំពង់ក្តី
Spean Praptos, commonly called the Kampong Kdei Bridge (ស្ពានកំពង់ក្តី), is a stone bridge of the Khmer Empire in Siem Reap province.[1][2] It stands at Kampong Kdei, in Chi Kraeng district, and carried travelers across a river on the road network that joined Angkor to other parts of the empire.[1] The river is the Chi Kraeng, and the bridge is about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the city of Siem Reap.[3]
The bridge
The Phnom Penh Post gives the bridge's length as about 87 meters (285 feet). It is built of laterite blocks and has more than 20 corbelled arches.[1] Hello Angkor measures it at 86 meters long and 14 meters (46 feet) wide, with 21 arches.[2] A sandstone balustrade in the form of a naga with nine heads runs along each side.[1][2] Hello Angkor notes that the center of each naga balustrade would once have held a seated Buddha, and that boundary markers carved with guardian figures stand at either end.[2] Cambodianess gives a width of 16 meters (52 feet) and a height of 10 meters (33 feet) above the river, with 20 pillars and 21 openings for the water. Local people also call it Spean Neak, the naga bridge.[3]
History
The bridge is associated with the reign of Jayavarman VII, in the 12th century.[1] Hello Angkor dates it to his reign, or at least to work done in that period, and notes research suggesting that bridge building along the old roads may have begun earlier.[2] Between Kampong Kdei and Angkor it is the largest of a series of old bridges along the royal road, though not the longest.[2]
Cambodianess places it in the Bayon period, in the late 12th or early 13th century, from the style of its carving, handrails and cornerstones.[3]
Some repair work was done on the bridge in the 1920s, and the Royal Khmer Government restored it fully in the 1960s.[2] Cambodianess gives more detail. The École française d'Extrême-Orient carried out the first work in 1925 and put the four naga heads back in place. From 1965 to 1967 Cambodia's Ministry of Public Works and Transport began a second restoration with the school's help. That project stopped halfway, after only the northern side had been repaired.[3]
Today
Local people still cross the bridge. Some pay respects to their ancestors there, leaving drinks and lighting candles or incense, and a celebration is held on the bridge each year.[2] The bridge appears on the 5,000 riel banknote.[2]
In 2026 the Phnom Penh Post set the bridge beside China's Anping Bridge, also from the 12th century, as two examples of the engineering of the period. In its view, both showed the wealth, skill and culture of the states that built them, not only a way across the water.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 The Phnom Penh Post, via The Star (Asia News Network), Ancient bridges in China, Cambodia reveal different approaches to 12th-century engineering (September 25, 2026)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Hello Angkor, Spean Praptos – Kampong Kdei Bridge (undated)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Cambodianess, Long Ton, A Bridge that Links Not Just People, but Time (April 10, 2022)