Ta Prohm Temple | Tomb Raider Filming Location, Alien Planet's Divine Tree Spectacle

🌏 If there's any temple on Earth that looks most like an alien planet, it must be Ta Prohm Temple: giant kapok and bodhi trees grow into towering giants from the cracks in the temple's stones, their thick roots, like facehuggers, tightly entwining the stone structures, then penetrating and embedding themselves into the red earth. Against the backdrop of velvety moss covering the building surfaces during Siem Reap's rainy season, it's as if Aliens and Predators are about to emerge from these ancient, dark corridors at any moment. 🎬 It is precisely because of this spectacular scenery that Ta Prohm Temple was chosen as a filming location for the video game adaptation "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" at the end of the last century. In 2001, Angelina Jolie's portrayal of Lara Croft exploring among the ancient temple's giant trees appeared on screen, immediately sparking a strong reaction from global audiences; Ta Prohm Temple thus became the most popular temple among tourists in Siem Reap, besides Angkor Wat. ✅ Reading this, some can't help but wonder: What was Ta Prohm Temple used for? Why don't other temples in Siem Reap have such an exaggerated temple-tree symbiosis landscape? 1️⃣ The King's Remembrance of His Mother ➠ Ta Prohm, literally translated as Ta Prohm Temple, was built in 1186 by Jayavarman VII, the most famous god-king in Khmer history, to commemorate his mother. Here, his mother was deified as Prajnaparamita, the Mother of all Buddhas and the Goddess of Wisdom, and enshrined in the temple (reflecting the Khmer concept of god-king integration). ➠ Compared to Preah Khan, dedicated to his father, Ta Prohm Temple was no less grand or exquisite: according to inscriptions, 12,640 people once lived within the temple walls, including officiants, attendants, and dancers, like a miniature city; 39 tower-sanctuaries were densely adorned with exquisite Apsara bas-reliefs and sacred tree patterns—this inevitably brings to mind Emperor Qianlong, who undertook massive construction projects in Beijing and Chengde for his mother, Empress Dowager Chongqing. In terms of historical achievements, Jayavarman VII was like the Qianlong Emperor of Cambodia. ➠ However, Jayavarman's strategy of converting Cambodia to Buddhism ultimately did not last. After Jayavarman VII, many Buddhist images in Angkor's temples were removed or replaced with Hindu deities. Ta Prohm Temple was no exception, as can be seen in P7, 8, and 13. 2⃣️ India's Divine Restoration ➠ Unlike other Angkor temples that largely remove trees entwined around stone structures, the 🇮🇳 Indian team, during restoration, emphasized the presentation of "the power of nature," thus largely preserving the kapok and bodhi trees integrated with the temple, creating Ta Prohm Temple's astonishing temple-tree symbiosis spectacle. The restoration by the Indian archaeological team has thus become one of the most successful cases in UNESCO's International Angkor Restoration Project. 🛵 Route | Grand Circuit One-Day Tuk-Tuk: Angkor Wat Sunrise - Preah Khan - Neak Pean - Ta Som - East Mebon - Pre Rup - Srah Srang - Banteay Kdei - Ta Prohm Temple - Prasat Kravan 🎫 Ticket | Three-day pass $62, valid for ten days