Preah Neak Pean means Intertwined Serpent (Naga). It was late 12th century built Buddhist temple with a petite yet perfect temple constructed by Jayavarman VII. It has a large square pool surrounded by four smaller square pools. In the centre of the central pool is a circular ‘island’ encircled by the two naga whose intertwined tails give the temple its name. Preah Neak Pean provides the blueprint for the ultimate swimming complex.
In the pool around the central island there were once four statues, but only one remains, reconstructed from the debris by the French archaeologists who cleared the site. The curious figure has the body of a horse supported by a tangle of human legs. It relates to a legend that Avalokiteshvara once saved a group of shipwrecked followers from an island of ghouls by transforming himself into a flying horse.
Water once flowed from the central pool into the four peripheral pools via ornamental spouts, which can still be seen in the pavilions at each axis of the pool. The spouts are in the form of an elephant’s head, a lion’s head, a horse’s head as well as a human’s head. The pool was used for ritual purification rites and the complex was once in the centre of a huge 3km by 900m baray serving Preah Khan, now dried up and overgrown. It must have been truly spectacular to approach this island temple by boat.