The Two Buddhist Towers project was established to study the transition from Mahāyāna to Theravāda Buddhism within Cambodia’s rich past through a rigorous, multidisciplinary investigation of three distinct yet interrelated aspects of Khmer society at Preah Khan of Kompong Svay (Preah Khan): temples and iconography, settlement, and history.

The project began in 2015 as part of a two-year initiative funded by the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Buddhist Collaborative Research Fellowship co-sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies.