Prasat Suor Prat: the 'towers of the cord dancers' - Angkor Temples

Location:at the beginning of the road leading to the Gate of Victory of Angkor Thorn; 1,200 metres (3,937 feet) in front of Phimeanakas
Access: enter and leave the towers from the road
Date: end of the 12th century
King: Jayavarman VII (reigned 1181-1220)
Religion: Buddhist
Art style: Bayon

Background
Since the Japanese government have been excavating around the plinths of the towers, you can walk around these towers and view them from all angles. Their purpose is a source of some controversy. According to a Cambodian legend, the towers served as anchoring places for ropes which stretched from one to another for acrobats performing at festivals, while the king observed the performances from one of the terraces. This activity is reflected in the name of the towers.

Zhou Daguan wrote about an entirely different purpose of the towers in describing a method of settling disputes between men. 'Twelve little stone towers stand in front of the royal palace. Each of the contestants is forced to be seated in one of the towers, with his relatives standing guard over him. They remain imprisoned two, three, or four days. When allowed to emerge, one of them will be found to be suffering some illness - ulcers, or catarrh or malignant fever. The other man will be in perfect health. Thus is right or wrong determined by what is called "celestial judgement".

Henri Mouhot wrote that the towers were 'said to have been the royal treasure....It served, they say, as a depository for the crown jewels'. Another theory is that they may have served as an altar for each province on the occasion of taking the oath of loyalty to the king.

Layout
Prasat Suor Prat is a row of 12 square laterite and sandstone towers, six on either side of the road leading to the Victory Gate, parallel to the front of the terraces. The two towers closest to the road are set back slightly from the others. The towers have an unusual feature of windows with balusters on three sides. Entrance porches open toward the west onto the parade ground. These features support the theory that these towers were used as some sort of viewing area, reserved for princes or dignitaries, opening on to the large parade ground in front of the Royal Palace. The interior of each tower has two levels and on the upper one there is a cylindrical vault with two frontons. The frames, bays and lintels were made of sandstone.