Sour Prat temple is located at the beginning of the road
leading to the Victory Gate, in front of the Royal Palace
The two towers closest to the road are set back slightly
from the others. The towers have an unusual feature of windows with balusters
on three sides. Entrance porches open toward the west onto the parade ground. The
interior of each tower has two levels and on the upper one there is a
cylindrical vault with two frontons. The frames, bays and lintels were made of
sandstone.
According to a Cambodian legend, the towers served as
anchoring places for ropes which stretched from one to another for acrobats performing
at festivals, while the king observed the performances from one of the terraces.
This activity is reflected in the name of the towers. Zhou Daguan wrote about
the entirely different purpose of the towers in describing a method of settling
disputes between men. Some think that they may have served as alter for each
province on the occasion of taking the oath of loyalty to the king.
