Asura Head Statue found at the Angkor Thom's South Gate

Officials of the APSARA National Authority found the asura head statue on 19 October 2022, after arranging the location of the former stalls of traders in front of the south gate of Angkor Thom.

Chhouk Somala, head of the registration team of the Department of Conservation of Monuments and Preventive Archaeology of the APSARA National Authority, said that the asura head statue was found at the location of the former souvenir stalls in front of the south gate of Angkor Thom. After moving the stalls to the new parking lot in front of Phnom Bakheng, the team went down to clean up and also found this asura head statue.

Mr. Somala added that at first, the team dug 30 to 40 cm deep and found three pieces of ancient stone, then the team washed, and assembled them to become the asura head. A single asura case, 60 cm high, 65 cm wide, and 59 cm thick. The sandstone asura head found are in the Bayon style.

Currently, the team has brought this head statue to the Preah Norodom Sihanouk-Angkor Museum to be cleaned and repaired properly and the team will study to find the original body of the statue before being reassembled.

He confirmed that according to the villagers, the place where the head of the asura was found was the restoration site of Angkor Thom's south gate in the French period. The examination at that location shows that there are some fragments of the statues left there.

It should be noted that APSARA National Authority plans to rearrange the public order at the above location. Therefore, excavations and registration of statues at the site will continue to find more lost statues, so they can be reassembled in the future.

Article: Yi Sotha
Photos: Rong Angkourell
Source: Apsara National Authority