Like its sister temple Banteay Srie, Banteay Samre boasts some extraordinary carvings (in a somewhat less well-preserved condition). Here are figures far more energetic, muscular, and of novel subjects, strikingly different than most Khmer art. Many are so deeply carved they nearly escape their relief base, and appear free-standing.

In addition to the bold and imaginative carvings, Bantaey Samre shows an architectural sophistication that sets it apart.

The wat temples spring from an intellectual construct of "building-as-object." They are even called "temple-mountains." The focus is on making a beautiful solid sculptural object.

In Banteay Samre, the thinking is inverted. At least half the "substance" is the carefully crafted empty spaces of the interior courtyards. By placing the interior floors of the buildings several feet higher than the courtyard level, these spaces are emphasized. One walks not onto the courtyard, but rather into it. There is an impressive fluid clarity and spatial intimacy to these courtyards.

These delights are hidden behind what is, by Khmer standards, a very modest and unimposing exterior.