The
West Baray is a baray, or reservoir, at
AngkorAngkor is a region of Cambodia that served as the seat of the Khmer empire, which flourished from approximately the ninth century to the thirteenth century...
,
CambodiaThe Kingdom of Cambodia , formerly known as Kampuchea , is a country in South East Asia with a population of over 14 million people. The kingdom's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh...
, oriented east-west and located just west of the walled city
Angkor ThomAngkor Thom was the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire. It was established in the late twelfth century by king Jayavarman VII. It covers an area of 9 km², within which are located several monuments from earlier eras as well as those established by Jayavarman and his successors...
. Rectangular in shape and measuring approximately 8 by 2.1 kilometers, the West Baray is the largest baray at Angkor. Its waters are contained by tall earthen dikes. In the center of the baray is the
West MebonThe West Mebon is a temple at Angkor, Cambodia, located in the center of the West Baray, the largest reservoir of the Angkor area. The temple's date of construction is not known, but evidence suggests the 11th Century during the reign of King Suryavarman I or Udayadityavarman II. In the dry...
, a Hindu temple built on an artificial island.
Construction of the baray probably began in the 11th Century during the reign of King
Suryavarman ISuryavarman I was king of the Khmer Empire from 1010 to 1050. After the reign of Udayadityavarman I, which ended around 1000, there was no clear successor. Two kings, Jayaviravarman and Suryavarman I, both claimed the throne. Suryavarman I was a Buddhist who was said in the Chronicles of Chieng...
and was finished later under King
Udayadityavarman IIUdayadityavarman II ruled the Angkor Kingdom from 1050 - 1066 A.D. He was the successor of Suryavarman I but not his son; he descended from Yasovarman I's spouse. He built the Baphuon Temple to honor the god Shiva, but some of the sculptures are dedicated to Buddha. He also completed the...
.
The Angkorian engineers who created the West Baray appear to have in places incorporated earlier construction.
The
West Baray is a baray, or reservoir, at
AngkorAngkor is a region of Cambodia that served as the seat of the Khmer empire, which flourished from approximately the ninth century to the thirteenth century...
,
CambodiaThe Kingdom of Cambodia , formerly known as Kampuchea , is a country in South East Asia with a population of over 14 million people. The kingdom's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh...
, oriented east-west and located just west of the walled city
Angkor ThomAngkor Thom was the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire. It was established in the late twelfth century by king Jayavarman VII. It covers an area of 9 km², within which are located several monuments from earlier eras as well as those established by Jayavarman and his successors...
. Rectangular in shape and measuring approximately 8 by 2.1 kilometers, the West Baray is the largest baray at Angkor. Its waters are contained by tall earthen dikes. In the center of the baray is the
West MebonThe West Mebon is a temple at Angkor, Cambodia, located in the center of the West Baray, the largest reservoir of the Angkor area. The temple's date of construction is not known, but evidence suggests the 11th Century during the reign of King Suryavarman I or Udayadityavarman II. In the dry...
, a Hindu temple built on an artificial island.
Construction of the baray probably began in the 11th Century during the reign of King
Suryavarman ISuryavarman I was king of the Khmer Empire from 1010 to 1050. After the reign of Udayadityavarman I, which ended around 1000, there was no clear successor. Two kings, Jayaviravarman and Suryavarman I, both claimed the throne. Suryavarman I was a Buddhist who was said in the Chronicles of Chieng...
and was finished later under King
Udayadityavarman IIUdayadityavarman II ruled the Angkor Kingdom from 1050 - 1066 A.D. He was the successor of Suryavarman I but not his son; he descended from Yasovarman I's spouse. He built the Baphuon Temple to honor the god Shiva, but some of the sculptures are dedicated to Buddha. He also completed the...
.
The Angkorian engineers who created the West Baray appear to have in places incorporated earlier construction. The east dike, for instance, appears to be largely a section of a dike that enclosed the capital city of King
YasovarmanYasovarman I was an Angkorian king who reigned from AD 889-910.-Early Years:After the death of Indravarman I, a succession war was fought by his two sons. It's believed that the war was fought on land and on sea by the Tonle Sap. In the end Yasovarman I prevailed. Because of his father had sought...
, which had the
Phnom BakhengPhnom Bakheng at Angkor, Cambodia, is a Hindu temple in the form of a temple mountain. Dedicated to Shiva, it was built at the end of the 9th century, during the reign of King Yasovarman . Located atop a hill, it is nowadays a popular tourist spot for sunset views of the much bigger temple Angkor...
temple at its center. In other places, the baray obliterated or submerged earlier human-made sites. The south dike, for instance, partially buried a brick pyramid temple,
Ak YumAk Yum is an ancient temple in the Angkor region of Cambodia. The first structure on the site was a single-chamber brick sanctuary, probably constructed in the latter part of the 8th Century, scholars believe. Later it was remade into a larger stepped pyramid structure, with a base approximately...
. And the western floor of the baray appears to have once been inhabited--archeological work has found wall bases, steps, and pottery shards there. An inscription stele discovered in the area, dating from 713 A.D., offers further evidence of earlier settlement, defining rice fields that were offered to a queen Jayadevi.
Early French experts believed the West Baray to have functioned as a vast holding tank for water that fed irrigation canals in dry times, allowing multiple crops of rice each year. Many later studies, however, theorize that the baray had mainly symbolic functions, serving as a vast earthly depiction of the Hindu Sea of Creation, with the West Mebon temple at its center.
In modern times, an irrigation lock was built in the baray's southern dike, raising the water level and allowing provision of water to fields to the south. Today the baray retains water in its western end year-round. In the rainy season, water advances to the eastern dike.
With clear, still waters, the baray today is a popular place for swimming and boat rides by local residents. It has occasionally served as a landing site for seaplanes.