Bakong Temple

Name Bakong

Date 881

King Indravarman I

Location Village of Roluos, just South of National Highway 6 Nearby

Preah Ko, Prasat Prei Monti

The Bakong is the first of the large mountain temples in Angkor. It belongs to the Roluos group, build at the end of the 9^th century.
The Bakong and the other temples of the Roluos group, like the Preah Ko and the Lolei were build in Hariharalaya, an early capital of the Khmer empire. This area is now called Roluos, located North of Tonle Sap lake, about 15 kilometers East of Siem Reap.

State temple of King Indravarman I

The Bakong was build by King Indravarman I, who also build the Preah Ko temple and the huge Indratataka baray, a reservoir where water was stored to be used for irrigation during the dry season.
It was the state temple of King Indravarman I, dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva. A stele found at the site states that the Bakong’s main linga named Sri Indresvara was consecrated in the temple in the year 881. The main linga, which is a representation of Shiva, is usually enshrined in the central tower of the Khmer temple.
One of the main attractions of the Bakong temple is its lintels, that contain very intricate, detailed and well preserved carvings of mythical creatures like Nagas and Makaras.

Moats and the first Naga bridges

The Bakong is a sandstone monument enclosed by two moats. The outer enclosure is delimited on each side by a laterite wall with a gopura, an entrance gate with a tower on top of it. Between the inner and outer moat are the remains of 22 brick temple buildings, most of which have collapsed. They contained statues of Vishnu, Shiva and a number of lingas.
The moat outside the inner enclosure is crossed by paved causeways, with huge seven headed Naga snakes on its sides. They are the first examples of Naga bridges, found in many of the later Angkor temples.

Inner enclosure

The inner enclosure contains a five stepped pyramid surrounded by eight brick towers. On top of the pyramid is a single sanctuary tower. In front of the temple on the Eastern entrance are two long halls positioned between two of the surrounding towers. At each of the four corners of the inner enclosure are brick buildings called libraries, although they probably did not contain any scriptures.
Around the pyramid are eight square brick towers, some of which have collapsed. Originally they were plastered on the outside and contained figures of dvarapalas and devatas, a few of which have survived. All towers have a real door the the East, the other three are false doors. The door knobs on the false doors are shaped like lion heads. The lintels in the towers contain some of the finest decorations to be seen in Angkor, with very intricate depictions like Vishnu on top of Garuda, warrior figures, animals and mythological creatures like makaras and Naga snakes.