Heritage site

Temple of Preah Vihear

ប្រាសាទព្រះវិហារ

The Temple of Preah Vihear (ប្រាសាទព្រះវិហារ, Prasat Preah Vihear) is a Khmer temple dedicated to Shiva in northern Cambodia, near the border with Thailand.[1][2] It stands on a cliff-edged promontory of the Dângrêk Mountains.[2] Its sanctuaries are linked by paved causeways and stairways along an 800-meter (2,600-foot) axis, and most of the buildings date from the first half of the 11th century.[1] UNESCO inscribed it on the World Heritage List in 2008 as an outstanding masterpiece of Khmer architecture.[1]

Setting

The temple stands on a promontory 547 meters (1,795 feet) above the Cambodian plain, known as Phnom Preah Vihear, "the mountain of the sacred hermitage". Steep cliffs bound it on all sides but the north. From its southern tip the view runs across the plain as far as the Kulen hills.[2] Unusually for a Khmer temple, its axis runs north to south.[2]

History

The site began as a hermitage, and the caves where hermits lived can still be seen in the cliffs.[2][1] Its founding is often linked to a shrine built in the early 9th century by Prince Indrayudha, whose father was King Jayavarman II, who placed part of the great linga of Vat Phou there. That first building was a modest wooden structure, and the Khmer rulers of the 10th century changed it only a little.[2] A Cambodian account credits the first temple to King Yasovarman I, who reigned from 889 to 910, and says it was begun in light materials and finished in stone by his successors.[3]

Four inscriptions in Khmer and Sanskrit date the present temple and show that King Suryavarman I was closely involved in building it.[2] He had a linga bearing his name raised at Preah Vihear early in the 11th century, and the first temple was soon rebuilt in sandstone as the complex grew.[2] A Radio Free Asia history series also credits him with parts of the temple.[4] By about 1050 building had reached the third gateway. The steep ground and frequent landslides slowed the work, and the temple was finished only in the 12th century, when King Suryavarman II gave the task to the architect Divakarapandita.[2]

An inscription at the temple records how Suryavarman II studied sacred rites, held religious festivals and gave his aged spiritual adviser, the Brahmin Divakarapandita, gifts of white parasols, golden bowls and elephants. Divakarapandita gave the temple a golden statue of Shiva dancing.[5][6]

The temple

A steep stone stairway with metal handrails rising to a ruined gate pavilion.
The stairway climbing to one of the gopuras of the Temple of Preah Vihear, 2019. Photo: No(0)GoodNamesLeft, CC BY-SA 4.0

At the northern end, a great stairway of 159 steps, 54 meters (177 feet) long, climbs to a paved terrace lined with large naga serpents. From there the way passes through five gateways, or gopuras, numbered from the sanctuary outward, so that visitors reach the fifth first.[2] Paved causeways link them. The fourth gateway has a large water tank cut into the rock, and a smaller tank lies beside the causeway to the third.[2] The third gateway is flanked by two U-shaped galleries known as "palaces", though they most likely served monks.[2]

The sanctuary at the southern end is enclosed by galleries set like a cloister. To the north it is closed by a false gateway with a blank wall, so that from inside only the sky can be seen.[2]

A triangular sandstone pediment densely carved with figures and scrolls against blue sky.
A carved pediment at the Temple of Preah Vihear, 2019. Photo: No(0)GoodNamesLeft, CC BY-SA 4.0

On the gateways, lintels and pillars show Hindu gods including Shiva, Vishnu, Indra and Krishna.[2] The builders used sandstone quarried on the site, set on laterite where needed, and brick brought up from the plain for the vaulted roofs. Every building except the central sanctuary had a wooden roof covered with tiles.[2]

Sovereignty

A series of treaties between France, then the protecting power in Cambodia, and Siam from 1904 to 1907 set out the border in the area, and French officers drew up the maps.[7] A map drawn on the work of a joint commission placed the temple in Cambodia.[8][2][6] Thai forces were stationed at the temple from 1954, and on October 6, 1959 Cambodia took the dispute to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).[8]

On June 15, 1962 the ICJ ruled by nine votes to three that the temple stands on Cambodian territory. It found that Thailand had accepted the map and ordered it to withdraw its forces, and by seven votes to five it ordered Thailand to return objects taken from the temple since 1954.[8][5][9]

After the World Heritage listing in 2008, armed incidents took place in the border area near the temple, and in 2011 Cambodia asked the court to interpret its 1962 judgment.[10] Clashes broke out near the temple from February to April 2011.[7][6] On November 11, 2013 the court held that the 1962 ruling covered the whole promontory of Preah Vihear, so Thailand had to withdraw any personnel stationed there.[10][5] JSTOR Daily wrote in 2024 that the area had been relatively calm since 2013, though it was not yet clear whether the dispute had ended.[7]

Later history

The site was closed for more than twenty years from the 1970s, during Cambodia's years of conflict. Its isolation spared the buildings, but the Khmer Rouge laid mines across the site and left only in 1998.[2] By the time of UNESCO's evaluation, the Cambodian Mine Action Centre had nearly finished clearing the area put forward for listing.[2]

Significance and conservation

Wooden scaffolding propping up leaning sandstone walls and a door frame on a rocky platform.
Timber supports shoring up a ruined structure at the Temple of Preah Vihear, 2019. Photo: No(0)GoodNamesLeft, CC BY-SA 4.0

UNESCO inscribed the Temple of Preah Vihear on the World Heritage List in 2008 under cultural criterion (i). The listed property covers 154.7 hectares (382 acres), with a buffer zone of 2,642.5 hectares (6,530 acres).[1] UNESCO calls the temple an outstanding masterpiece of Khmer architecture for its plan, its decoration and its relationship to the spectacular landscape. It singles out the high quality of its carved stone and the way the buildings are adapted to the site and to their religious function.[1]

The site is particularly well preserved, mainly because it is remote.[1][2] UNESCO notes that the property's integrity is partly affected because part of the promontory lies outside its boundary. It finds the legal protection adequate and has asked for the management plan to be completed and approved.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Temple of Preah Vihear
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 ICOMOS, Preah Vihear (Cambodge), No 1224, evaluation for the World Heritage Committee (2008; in French)
  3. ↑ Cambodian Information Center, A Khmer Heritage
  4. ↑ Radio Free Asia Khmer, The activities of four kings of the Angkor period, part 12 of a history series (April 23, 2014; in Khmer)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Cambodian Information Center, Prasat Preah Vihear
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Wikipedia, Preah Vihear (undated)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 JSTOR Daily, A Postcolonial Preah Vihear (November 12, 2024)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 International Court of Justice, Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia v. Thailand), case summary
  9. ↑ Wikipedia, Preah Vihear Temple dispute (undated)
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 International Court of Justice, Request for Interpretation of the Judgment of 15 June 1962 in the Case concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia v. Thailand), case summary
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This page was last edited on 10 October 2026, at 15:26.