Looking more Chia Pet than temple, this shot of Prasat Kravan before its restoration shows the ravaging effects of vegetative growth on tenth century brickwork. While little detail concerning royal ascension dates is available from the period, Prasat Kravan is believed to have been constructed in 921 under the kingship of Harshavarman I, the son of Yashovarman I. Built in the late period of the Bakheng period, an inscription on the door pier dedicates the temple to Vishnu. This, along with the numerous bas-relief carvings on the temples' interior walls of Vishnu, and his consort Lakshmi suggests a surge in Viashnavism after the reign of Yashovarman I. Located just south of East Baray, the giant reservoir constructed by Yashovarman I in establishing his new capitol at Yashodharapura (Angkor), Prasat Kravan originally consisted of five north/south oriented towers open to the east. However, all but the one pictured above succumbed to such extreme erosion that they exist now as mere abbreviations of their original glory. The temple complex was restored by the French Conservation d'Angkor as part of the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme Orient (EFEO.) Under the oversight of B.P. Groslier from 1962-1966, the method of anastylosis brought the temple into such a state that the image above is barely comparable. This is most likely the western face of the central tower.