Phnom Bakheng

Phnom Bakheng
The central tower of the temple
Phnom Bakheng Location in Cambodia
Name
Proper name	Prasat Phnom Bakheng
Geography
Coordinates	13°25′27″N 103°51′22″E / 13.42418°N 103.85601°E / 13.42418; 103.85601Coordinates: 13°25′27″N 103°51′22″E / 13.42418°N 103.85601°E / 13.42418; 103.85601
Country	Cambodia
State/province	Siem Reap
Locale	Angkor
Culture
Primary deity	Shiva
Architecture
Architectural styles	Khmer (Bakheng style)
History and governance
Date built	889-910 A.D.
Creator	Yasovarman I

Phnom Bakheng
View from the hill
Highest point
Elevation	79 m (259 ft)
Coordinates	13°25′25″N 103°51′22″E / 13.42361°N 103.85611°E / 13.42361; 103.85611
Geography
Phnom Bakheng Location in Cambodia
Location	Angkor, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Climbing
Easiest route	hiking

Phnom Bakheng (Khmer: ប្រាសាទភ្នំបាខែង) at Angkor, Cambodia, is a Hindu and Buddhist temple in the form of a temple mountain. Dedicated to Shiva, it was built at the end of the 9th century, during the reign of King Yasovarman (889-910). Located atop a hill, it is nowadays a popular tourist spot for sunset views of the much bigger temple Angkor Wat, which lies amid the jungle about 1.5 km to the southeast. The large number of visitors makes Phnom Bakheng one of the most threatened monuments of Angkor. Since 2004, World Monuments Fund has been working to conserve the temple in partnership with APSARA.

Constructed more than two centuries before Angkor Wat, Phnom Bakheng was in its day the principal temple of the Angkor region, historians believe. It was the architectural centerpiece of a new capital, Yasodharapura, that Yasovarman built when he moved the court from the capital Hariharalaya in the Roluos area located to the southeast.

An inscription dated 1052 AD and found at the Sdok Kak Thom temple in present-day Thailand states in Sanskrit: "When Sri Yasovardhana became king under the name of Yasovarman, the able Vamasiva continued as his guru. By the king's order, he set up a linga on Sri Yasodharagiri, a mountain equal in beauty to the king of mountains." Scholars believe that this passage refers to the consecration of the Phnom Bakheng temple approximately a century and a half earlier.

Phnom Bakheng is one of 3 hilltop temples in the Angkor region that are attributed to Yasovarman's reign. The other two are Phnom Krom to the south near the Tonle Sap lake, and Phnom Bok, northeast of the East Baray reservoir.