18 Cubit Buddha

New columns and new Buddha at Vihear Preah Put Atharoes

Oudong served as the capital of Cambodia between 1618 and 1866 and the remains of many of its Kings are interred on top of Phnom Oudong. As famous as the stupas of the Kings was the Vihara of the 18 Cubit Buddha, also known as Vihear Preah Put Atharoes, which suffered bombing by the Americans and then was blown to smithereens by the Khmer Rouge in 1977, with just some of its right side remaining on view, alongwith the pillars of the vihara, that was first erected in 1911. That was all that could be seen on my first visit back in 1998, though today the sanctuary is a hive of building activity as the vihara is being renovated, a replacement thirty-metre high Buddha is in situ and its hard to spot the original pieces amongst the new concrete. However if you look close enough, two lintels and colonettes remain either side of the door to the vihara and fragments of ceramic decoration are in place at the base of the Buddha. I'm not convinced that the lintels are of Angkorean-age but there is evidence of laterite and sandstone temples of that era on the mountain, so they may be left-overs from that time. You reach the giant Buddha by taking the right-hand steps near the Neak Ta figure of Lok Ta Dambong Daek.

The right-hand doorway with lintel and colonettes and naga antefixes

A kala lintel with Vishvakarma seated above

Painting of the giant Buddha continues. Some of its original ceramic decoration can be seen on its plinth

One of two doorways into the vihara with a lintel in situ

A popular lintel carving is a kala with Vishvakarma seated above

This is an old photo of Vihear Preah Put Atharoes with its ceiling intact (from Khmer Renaissance)