Wat Athvea to the south and Wat Preah Enkosey to the north correspond to the limits of the ancient and principal north–south axis of Siemreap, whereas the city has extended east and west along the National Highway 6.

[4] The change of orientation from East to West has brought some, as David Snellgrove, to think that Wat Athvea was probably built as a Buddhist temple in the early 13th century,[5] at a date indicated by the foundation stele, at a time when Buddhism and vedic religions overlapped in Cambodia.

[6] The first archeologists, like Jean Garnier, who wanted to explore Angkor Wat would sail up the Mekong and the Tonle Sap and make a first step at the landmark hill of Phnom Krom and then stop at Wat Athvea as they rowed their boats up the Siem Reap River if the water was sufficient, or they rode on the back of elephants to Siemreap.

[8] Anthropologist Ang Choulean demonstrated direct descent from Angkorian tradition is evident in the cut-out paper appliqué placed on an altar during the Wat Athvea funerary celebration.

[10] While Etienne Lunet de Lajonquière mistakenly believed it was oriented eastwards like other temples,[11] Wat Athvea actually faces west like Angkor Wat, which is a remarkable exception, noted for the first time by French captain Ernest Doudart de Lagrée, who suggested that it might have been the sign of the arrival of a new cult from the West.