CAMBODIA, March 6, 2003: The Chen Sran temple has been discovered around 40 kilometers from the Thai-Cambodia border, deep in the jungle of the northern Preah Vihear province. It was constructed in dedication to Hindu beliefs in the ninth or tenth century, cultural officials said. The monument was not known to authorities until villagers reported it to a provincial cultural officer, said Uong Von, chief of the heritage department at Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. The temple is 15 meters tall, 150 meters in length by 100 meters in width. Almost 50 percent of the structure was damaged and, despite the lack of a proper road to the site, most of its artifacts had been plundered. “The temple remains were only a body — there were no artifacts,” said Von. Nearly a dozen previously unknown temples have turned up in the last decade, said the expert who believes there are more temples lying undiscovered in the same area along the Thai-Cambodia border.
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