UNESCO Sites Near Angkor: Koh Ker and Preah Vihear

Koh Ker, 65 km away in a straight line, is the nearest World Heritage site to Angkor, followed by the Temple of Preah Vihear (117 km) and Sambor Prei Kuk (127 km), all in Cambodia. Angkor itself is the archaeological park of the successive Khmer capitals, from the 9th to the 15th century, and it has been on the World Heritage List since 1992.

The World Heritage sites within reach of Angkor

The distances below are straight lines between the reference points that UNESCO publishes for each property, measured to the nearest component of a serial site. They show what is close, not how long the road takes, which depends on the season and the route.

Four of the six span the centuries around Angkor. Sambor Prei Kuk was the capital of the Chenla Empire in the late 6th and early 7th centuries, before Angkor. Koh Ker was a rival Khmer capital that was the sole one from 928 to 944 CE. Preah Vihear dates to the first half of the 11th century, and Vat Phou is a planned landscape developed between the 5th and 15th centuries, mainly under the Khmer Empire. Khao Yai is the exception: a forest of tropical ecosystems, listed for nature alone.

Why is Angkor called a city and not a group of temples?

UNESCO describes Angkor as the remains of the different capitals of the Khmer Empire: scores of temples, but also basins, dykes, reservoirs, canals and communication routes, over some 400 square kilometres. The temples are only the part that survived in stone.

Airborne laser scanning has shown how much was built around them. A 370 km2 lidar survey flown in April 2012 and published in 2013 revealed what its authors call an entire, previously undocumented, formally planned urban landscape beneath the forest. Inside the moated early 12th-century enclosure of Angkor Wat, the scans show regular city blocks furnished with occupation mounds and ponds. By the 13th century, the authors estimate, the dense urban core covered about 35 km2 at the centre of a low-density complex stretching over about 1,000 km2.

The same survey also covered Koh Ker, the nearest World Heritage neighbour. There, it reports, human modification of the ground covers essentially the whole 67 km2 surveyed, and, like Angkor, the city shows hydraulic engineering on a comparable scale.

Which temples carry Angkor’s case for World Heritage?

Angkor Wat, the temple most visitors come for, was built in the 12th century by King Suryavarman II, who reigned from 1113 to about 1150, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica. UNESCO itself gives no date for the individual temples, only the 9th to 15th centuries for the capitals as a whole.

UNESCO names Angkor Wat, the Bayon and Banteay Srei as artistic masterpieces under criterion (i), and treats Angkor Wat, the Bayon, Preah Khan and Ta Prohm as exemplars of Khmer architecture. Its criteria are (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv): the full range of Khmer art from the 9th to the 14th centuries, its influence across South-East Asia, the witness of a vanished empire, and an architecture that grew from Indian models into something distinct.

The park is also lived in. UNESCO notes that many villages, some with ancestors dating back to the Angkor period, are scattered through it, and that the inhabitants venerate the temple deities and hold ceremonies in their honour. Its assessment of integrity counts more than 100,000 inhabitants in 112 historic settlements, and the nearby town of Siem Reap as a tourism hub: the pressures any plan for the site has to carry.

Who protects a site where people still live?

Conservation at Angkor between 1907 and 1992 was carried out by, among others, the École française d’Extrême-Orient, the Archaeological Survey of India, the Polish conservation body PKZ and the World Monuments Fund. Since 1995 the APSARA National Authority, created by Royal Decree on 19 February 1995, has been responsible for protecting the site and managing the region. The International Coordinating Committee, ICC-Angkor, created on 13 October 1993, coordinates the successive scientific and conservation projects. UNESCO credits this work with the removal of Angkor from the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2004.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which UNESCO World Heritage sites are near Angkor?

Koh Ker is 65 km away in a straight line, the Temple of Preah Vihear 117 km and Sambor Prei Kuk 127 km, all in Cambodia. Further out are the Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai forests in Thailand (133 km), the Cambodian Memorial Sites (180 km) and Vat Phou in Laos (244 km).

How large is the Angkor World Heritage property?

UNESCO gives it as approximately 400 square kilometres, including forested area. Inside lie scores of temples, hydraulic structures such as basins, dykes, reservoirs and canals, and communication routes, together with villages whose inhabitants still farm rice in the park.

When was Angkor inscribed on the World Heritage List?

In 1992, under all four cultural criteria (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv). It was removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2004, which UNESCO attributes to the successful conservation work of the APSARA National Authority, monitored by ICC-Angkor.

What did lidar reveal at Angkor?

A 370 km2 airborne laser survey in 2012 mapped the ground beneath the forest and found a formally planned urban landscape around the major temples, including city blocks with mounds and ponds inside the Angkor Wat enclosure. It also found previously undocumented cityscapes at Phnom Kulen and Koh Ker.

Sources

• Encyclopaedia Britannica — Angkor Wat (article by the Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica). https://www.britannica.com/topic/Angkor-Wat
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Angkor (inscribed 1992). https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/668/
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Lingapura or Chok Gargyar (2023). https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1667/
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Temple of Preah Vihear (2008). https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1224/
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Temple Zone of Sambor Prei Kuk (2017). https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1532/
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Vat Phou and Associated Ancient Settlements within the Champasak Cultural Landscape (2001). https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/481/
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex (2005). https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/590/
• Evans, D. H. et al., “Uncovering archaeological landscapes at Angkor using lidar”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1306539110
• APSARA National Authority — official site of the management body of Angkor. https://www.apsaraauthority.gov.kh/

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