A lonely dirt road leads to the South Gate of Angkor Thom, long before mass tourism ever reached the forests of Siem Reap. The causeway’s naga-balustrade lies in ruins, yet the gate’s stone faces still watch over the moat and the sleeping city beyond. This 1933 photograph freezes a moment when the Khmer empire’s great capital was slowly emerging from the jungle, suspended between abandonment and rediscovery.
