World Art Utopia

Ta Prohm

Pale tree roots pouring down over a carved stone doorway and gallery roof at Ta Prohm temple in Angkor, Cambodia
Artwork FileAngkor, Cambodia

Ta Prohm

StandingJul 2025

King Jayavarman VII (founder) · 1186 · Angkor, Siem Reap, Cambodia · ប្រាសាទតាព្រហ្ម, originally Rajavihara

Photo: GayleKaren / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0), 26 September 2011; from the SAU archive.

King Jayavarman VII built Ta Prohm as a Buddhist monastery, then called Rajavihara, and silk-cotton and strangler fig trees later took root in its loosened stones. Instead of clearing them, the temple’s keepers have kept the trees, which is why Ta Prohm looks the way it does. Source Source Source Checked

Standing Jul 2025. Evidence date: 2025-07-21, a dated Commons photo of a giant tree over a gallery and the visitor walkway. On 22 March 2026 All India Radio reported that the third phase of Indian restoration work at Ta Prohm was under way. Source Source Checked

💡 4 things to know

  1. Built in 1186Jayavarman VII founded the monastery, and Atlas Obscura dates its construction to 1186. Its original name was Rajavihara. Source Source Checked
  2. Ruin by designAtlas Obscura says the temple’s appearance of neglect is in fact fastidiously maintained. In 2010 Cambodian archaeologist Sim Than told the Phnom Penh Post that the trees would remain even though they have taken root in the temple itself. Source Source Reported
  3. India’s long restorationIndia agreed in 2002 to restore Ta Prohm, with the Archaeological Survey of India doing the work. In March 2026 All India Radio reported two phases complete and a third under way. Source Source Source Checked
  4. The Tomb Raider templeTa Prohm owes part of its fame to its appearance in the film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Source Checked

📍 Where it is

Ta Prohm, in the Angkor Archaeological Park near Siem Reap · Siem Reap, Cambodia Source Source Source Checked

Open in Maps

Map pin from Wikidata’s coordinates for the temple. We could not check Street View imagery inside the temple, so the button opens a plain map.

🗓️ Sightings

  1. 200229 Jun

    Cambodia Daily on the trees

  2. 20031 Jan

    India pledges restoration

  3. 201126 Sep

    Doorway under roots (our photo)

  4. 20225 Sep

    APSARA prunes broken branches

  5. 202324 Mar

    Gallery with roots

  6. 202521 Jul

    Giant tree and walkway

  7. 202622 Mar

    Restoration phase three

Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports; red stamps mark loss. Publication dates are not camera dates.

✅ The facts

Founder
King Jayavarman VII Source Source Checked
Original name
Rajavihara Source Source Checked
Trees
Silk-cotton and strangler fig trees Source Checked
Largest trees
Deccan Herald calls the giant trees “Speung” trees, and a 2025 Commons photo is titled Tetrameles nudiflora; whether the biggest are spung or silk-cotton is not settled in our sources. Source Source Unconfirmed
Tree care
The APSARA forestry team prunes broken branches (September 2022); raised wooden walkways keep visitors off the roots. Source Source Checked
World Heritage
Part of Angkor, inscribed 1992 Source Checked

🔗 Related

All sources & image credits

Photo: GayleKaren / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0), 26 September 2011; from the SAU archive.

Last checked: 27 October 2026 · How we verify art