Bakong (Roluos Group)

Bakong, the principal temple of the Roluos Group near Siem Reap, was built in 881 CE as the state temple of King Indravarman I at Hariharalaya, then the capital of the Khmer Empire — predating Angkor itself as the seat of Khmer royal power. Dedicated to Shiva, with a lingam enshrined in the sanctuary at its summit, Bakong holds a foundational place in Khmer architectural history as the earliest sandstone temple-mountain built by the Khmer Empire; the stepped-pyramid form it established would be developed further at Phnom Bakheng before culminating, roughly two and a half centuries later, in Angkor Wat itself, both already documented separately in this directory.

The temple’s five terraced levels, rising in a stepped pyramid roughly 65 by 67 meters at its base and guarded by carved stone elephants and lions, were restored using anastylosis techniques in the 1930s. Its current central tower reflects a 12th-century rebuilding in the later Angkor Wat architectural style rather than the original 9th-century construction, illustrating the site’s long, layered history of use across the Khmer Empire’s development. A modern Buddhist temple now stands nearby, reflecting the empire’s later religious transition from Hinduism to Buddhism; today Bakong itself functions primarily as an archaeological and heritage site.