"Bakong, the first sandstone mountain temple built as an official state of King Indravarman I, was the nephew of King Jayavarman II who found the Khmer empire called Hariharalaya. Also, perhaps the second temple built during the Khmer empire after the Preah Ko temple which located close to it".
Temple Info
Bakong is the first temple mountain of sandstone constructed by rulers of the Khmer empire. It was built in the final decades of the 9th century AD, it served as the official state temple of King Indravarman I in the ancient city of Hariharalaya, located in an area that today is called Roluos.
The structure of Bakong took shape of the stepped pyramid, popularly identified as temple mountain of early Khmer temple architecture. The striking similarity of the Bakong and Borobudur temple in Java, going into architectural details such as the gateways and stairs to the upper terraces, suggests strongly that Borobudur was served as the prototype of Bakong. There must have been exchanges of travelers, if not mission, between the Khmer kingdom and the Sailendras in Java. Transmitting to Cambodia not only ideas but also technical and architectural details of Borobudur, including arched gateways in the corbelling method.
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| A statue of a lion guards the stairs on the central pyramid. |
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| The Highest Place of Bakong Temple |
The site of Bakong measures 900 meters by 700 meters and consists of three concentric enclosures separated by two moats, the main axis going from east to west. The inner moat delimits a 400 by 300 meters area, with remains of a laterite wall and four cruciform gopurams, and it is crossed by a wide earthen causeway, flanked by seven-headed nāgas, such as a draft of nāga bridge. Between the two moats, there are the remains of 22 satellite temples of brick. The innermost enclosure, bounded by a laterite wall, measures 160 meters by 120 meters and contains the central temple pyramid and eight brick temple towers, two on each side. A number of other smaller buildings are also located within the enclosure. Just outside the eastern gopura, there is a modern Buddhist temple.
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| The south face of the north brick tower on the west side of the platform. There are eight of the brick towers distributed around the central platform. |
In our history, in 802 AD, the first king of Angkor named Jayavarman II declared the sovereignty of Cambodia. After ups and downs, he established his capital at Hariharalaya. A few decades later, his successors constructed Bakong in stages as the first temple mountain of sandstone at Angkor.
The inscription on its stele (classified K.826) says that in 881 King Indravarman I dedicated the temple to the god Shiva and consecrated its central religious image, a lingam whose name Sri Indresvara was a combination of the king's own and the suffix "-esvara" which stood for Shiva ("Iśvara"). According to George Coedès, the devarāja cult consisted of the idea of divine kingship as the legitimacy of royal power, but later authors stated that it doesn't necessarily involve the cult of the physical persona of the ruler himself.
Bakong enjoyed its status as the state temple of Angkor for only a few years, but later additions from the 12th or 13th centuries testify that it was not abandoned. Toward the end of the 9th century, Indravarman's son and successor Yasovarman I moved the capital from Hariharalaya to the area north of Siem Reap now known as Angkor, where he founded the new city of Yaśodharapura around a new temple mountain called Bakheng.
Temple Facts
Name: Bakong Temple (One of the popular temples in the Roluos Group.)
Date: 881 A.D. (9th Century)
Built By: Indravarman I
Affiliation: Hinduism
Dedicated to: Shiva
Style: Khmer
Getting There
Bakong Temple is located in the east of Siem Reap town about 15km in Bakong commune and Bakong district. It’s located next to the south of the Preah Ko and Lolei temples.
To get to Bakong temple, you'll go from Siem Reap town along National Road 6 towards Phnom Penh, then turn right before you get to the Bakong High School. Continue along the road for around 400 or 500m and you’ll see Preah Ko on the right side, and then continue to the south about a few hundred meters you'll see the temple of Bakong.
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