Preah Khan probably functioned as a Buddhist university. The principal image, an image of the bodhisattva Lokesvara, was inaugurated in 1191. As Ta Prohm it dramatically shows what happens when a monument is left to its fate (see picture 1, below). The surroundings have, as it were, adapted itself to the relief showing ascetics meditating in caves in forested mountains (see picture 2, below).
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Picture 1
Picture 2