Preah Vihear Temple
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How it came to be
Preah Vihear stands on a cliff in the Dângrêk Mountains, which form the border between Cambodia and Thailand. The first temple was begun in the early 9th century and dedicated to Shiva. The oldest surviving parts date from the Koh Ker period of the early 10th century, and most of the temple was built under Suryavarman I and Suryavarman II.
Unlike the usual east-facing Khmer temple, it runs along an 800-metre north-south axis, with causeways, stairs and five gopuras rising to the sanctuary on the clifftop, 120 metres above the northern end. It later became a Buddhist temple.
A dispute over border maps led Cambodia to ask the International Court of Justice in 1959 to rule on the temple, and in 1962 the court found that it lies in Cambodia. Its inscription on 7 July 2008 sharpened the dispute, and in 2013 the court ruled again in Cambodia's favour.
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