Prasat Baset

Prasat Baset

Prasat Baset (or Baset temple, sometimes also spelled Basaet) is a small sandstone temple located approximately 11 km northeast of the city of Battambang. It was built in the early 11th century during the reign of Suryavarman I and is known epigraphically as Jayaksetra. There is no specific mention of Baset in inscriptions prior to the Angkorian period; however, some scholars have suggested that Baset may have been an important holy site before the construction of the temple in the 11th century. 

Several French scholars visited the Prasat Baset site. The French explorer Henri Mouhot visited Baset on his way to and from Angkor, and noted that the temple was in poor condition with collapsed towers and thick vegetation. He stated that approximately 100 years earlier, there was a large population at Baset that had been depleted due to conflict between Thailand and Cambodia. Auguste Pavie also affirmed that Old Battambang was centered around Basaet and that the provincial capital of Battambang town was established in its current location in 1835. By the turn of the 20th century, Etienne Aymonier also observed that little standing architecture remained at this site.  

Multiple inscriptions from Prasat Baset, coupled with pre-Angkorian and Angkorian-period statuary now housed at the Battambang Museum, suggest that the Baset temple site likely contains Pre- Angkorian, Angkorian and Post-Angkorian habitation.