This was our last temple stop for the day. This one is called Ta Prohm, but is frequently known as the "Tomb Raider" temple. The movie Laura Croft: Tomb Raider had some significant scenes filmed on site here, so many people recognize it from the film. I've never seen it. Angelina Jolie plays the lead character. She actually adopted her oldest child while she was in Cambodia filming. Just fyi for those of you who read People magazine!
Anyway, here is the temple. This one wasn't like the others in that it was mostly ground level and did not have the temple towers like the others we had visited today. It was originally built to be a Buddhist monastery and library.
The main feature of this site is that it is very overgrown with trees. HUGE trees!
The site was abandoned after the Khmer empire fell in the 1600s. It was really not disturbed at all until the early 21st century when restoration and conservation projects of the Angkor temples began in earnest.
Ta Prohm was intentionally left as it is to show how completely the temple and forest can become intertwined. The only restoration has been to maintain the structure so that it can be safely visited. It is difficult to see in these photos, but it was a very large space. We easily wandered around for 30-40 minutes inside the main walls of the complex.
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