Banteay Kdei

     The east gopura entrance in the outer laterite enclosure (as are the other axial entrances) is surmounted by smiling Lokesvara visages similar to those at Ta Prohm, and the doorway flanked by garudas in each corner. The large Buddhist cruciform terrace immediately in front of the temple is slightly raised and decorated with naga and garuda-balustrades and lions that are in the Bayon style.
     
As at Ta Prohm and Preah Khan, there is a vast rectangular hall that perhaps served as a space for ritual dance. The square columns, like those at the entrances to the Bayon, are decorated with paired or single dancing apsara sculpted in low-relief. Bas-relief dvarapala flank the entrances, surrounded by devata. The central sanctuary, which still carries some traces of sculpture, was probably rough-cut in order to receive a metal facing.

The gopura of the third enclosure is cruciform in plan, has internal columns and is covered by vaults. In the internal courtyard and walls of porches are Buddha images defaced in the period following Jayavarman VII’s reign. The vaults of these outer galleries, constructed in both laterite and sandstone, has in places, collapsed. Access from the rear of this complex leads to the eastern entrance of Ta Prohm temple.

In 2001, a team from the University of Sophia (Japan) uncovered 274 fragment pieces of Buddhist sculpture while pursuing a research excavation in Banteay Kdei. Most of the excavated statues are sculpted from sandstone and these were found together with a small number of metal artifacts.