The sight is located within Angkor. To prepare for your visit, read the AsiaExplorers Angkor Travel Guide for useful information. Visitors to Angkor stay at the town of Siem Reap. If you are looking for budget accommodation in Siem Reap, use the Cambodia Budget Accommodation Guide to find a place to stay.
Built around the late 9th Century (881)
by King Indravarman I (reigned 877-889)
Bakong is the most impressive temple within the Rolous Group. The Roluos group is the name given to a group of pre-Angkor ruins that lie 15 kilometres south-west of Siem Reap and includes three temples - Bakong, Preah Ko and Lolei. These temple ruins date from the late 9th century and corresponding to the ancient capital of Hariharalaya, from which the name of Lolei is derived. Because it is located outside the usual tourist trail, not many people visit it.
Bakong was completed around 881AD, making it much older than Angkor Wat. The Angkorian age only began when king Jayavarman II arrived from Java around 877. (By the way, I learned that there are scholars who disputed Java, claiming that Jayavarman II might have come from the Malay peninsula.) He settled twice at Hariharalaya, which was already an existing city at that time, before his investiture on Phnom Kulen (Mahendraparvata). It was there that the cult of the god kings or "Devaraja" was inaugurated. Jayavarman II died at Phnom Kulen in 850AD, after a reign of 48 years. His successors remained until Yasovarman founded the first Angkor kingdom centred on Phnom Bakheng.
View of Bakong with one of its brick towers in the foreground.
Bakong is quite likely the first time that the Khmer people experimented with building a temple mountain, a type of step pyramid that is so similar to those in Mesoamerica. They created an artificial mound for the Bakong, and enclosed it with two enclosure walls, and surrounded the temple with a moat. This was to be the style of temple construction to last for the next 400 years.
Many of the carvings on the lintels of Bakong are still in good shape. Like so many temples in Angkor, the Bakong has been renovated even during it sworking life, and the uppermost section may have been added as late as the 12th century.
Turn in and go for another 1.2km. On your way there, you will pass the ruins of Preah Ko on the right (westside). You should visit it too. Then the lane continues southwards until it reaches the north wall of Bakong, then it turns left (eastwards) to follow the moat, then right again (southwards) to take you to the main entrance of Bakong, which faces the east. Is my explanation confusing? Ah, just get a tuk tuk driver who knows the way! Alternatively, contact my tuk tuk driver Mr Han (contact below) to see if he is available to take you.
The central sanctuary of Bakong as seen from one corner.
The central tower of the Bakong.
Ruins of one of the long halls.
A few of the brick towers around the central tower.
View of one of the prasats beside the temple mountain of Bakong.
West view of a prasat at Bakong shows a false door.
Tim with an elephant statue at Bakong.
Angkor, Unesco World Heritage Site
AsiaExplorers provides you one of the most detailed documentation on Angkor, Unesco World Heritage Site, for you to explore from the comfort of your desktop.
Siem Reap Travel Guide
If you are visiting Angkor, it's almost definite that you will be staying in a hotel or guesthouse in Siem Reap. You will probably also need to hire a tuk tuk to take you around. Click the thumbnail on the left to view vital details to make your stay in Siem Reap more pleasant.
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As an independent traveler, you have the freedom to create your itinerary according to your own schedule. Here are local tours of Cambodia that you can fit into your vacation.
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