Early medieval · Hindu · Cambodia

Preah Vihear Temple

Dangrek escarpment, Preah Vihear · 14.3903°, 104.6800°

Shiva (Sikharesvara — Lord of the Peak)Khmer (Angkor)Khmer (axial, clifftop)UNESCO World Heritage

Sacred since

890 CE

first attestation / structure

Standing structure

9th–12th c.

patron: Yasovarman I; Suryavarman I & II

History & significance

Shiva as Lord of the Summit: an 800 m processional axis of stairways and gopuras climbing to a sanctuary on a 525 m Dangrek cliff over the Cambodian plain — the most dramatically sited of all Khmer temples. Awarded to Cambodia by the ICJ in 1962 (reaffirmed 2013) and UNESCO-listed in 2008, it remains entangled in recurring Thai–Cambodian border tensions — sacred geography as live geopolitics.

Sthala katha — the legend

Legend ties the founding relic to a lock of Shiva's hair; the temple rises through five gopuras — pilgrims ascending, level by level, from the world of men to the god's mountain throne at the edge of the sky.

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