BAKONG

BAKONG
Bakong is the largest and most interesting of the Roluos Group temple, and
has an active Buddhist monastery just to the north of the east entrance. It
was built and dedicated to Shiva by Indravarman I. It’s a representation of
Mt Meru, and it served as the city’s central temple. The east-facing complex
consists of a five-tier central pyramid of sandstone, 60m square at the base,
flanked by eight towers (or their remains) of brick and sandstone and by other
minor sanctuaries. A number of the eight towers below the upper central
tower are still partly covered by their original plasterwork.
The complex is enclosed by three concentric walls and a moat. There are
well-preserved statues of stone elephants on each corner of the first three levels
of the central temple. There are 12 stupas – three to a side – on the third tier.

LOLEI
The four brick towers of Lolei, an almost exact replica of the towers of Preah
Ko (although in much worse shape) were built on an islet in the centre of a
large reservoir – now rice-fields – by Yasovarman I (r 889 – 910), the founder
of the first city at Angkor. The sandstone carving in the niches of the temples are Worth a look and there are Sanskrit inscriptions on the doorposts.
According to one of the inscriptions, the four towers were dedicated by
Yasovarman I to his mother, his father and his maternal grandparents on
12 july 893.



AROUND ANGKOR
PHNOM KROM
The temple of Phnom Krom, 12km south of Siem Reap on a hill overlooking Tonle Sap Lake, dates from the reign of Yasovarman I in the late 9th or
early 10th century. The name means Lower Hill’ and is a reference to its
geographic location in relation to its sister temple of Phnom Bakheng and
Phnom Bok. The three towers, dedicated (from north to south) to Vishnu,
Shiva and Brahma, are in a ruined state, but Phnom Krom remains one of
the more tranquil spots from which to view the sunset, complete with an
active wat. The fast boats from Phnom Penh dock near here, but it is not
possible to see the temple from beneath the hill. If coming here by moto
or car. try to get the driver to take you to the summit, as it is a long, hot
climb otherwise.