Pre Rup Temple

Pre Rup Temple is presented at Angkor National Museum through the reign of Rajendravarman II, who founded it in 961 as a late 10th c. temple mountain: laterite and sandstone terraces rise in tiers to five towers, a stone diagram of Mount Meru linking earth and sky. Its name is often read as turn the body, a phrase tied to funerary rites, and the site is widely associated with royal cremations. Carved Apsaras and devatas soften its severe geometry with grace, devotion, and mortality.