King Yasovarman I succeeded Indravarman I in the year 889. He decided to move the capital of the Khmer empire to the area we now call Angkor, but continued and expanded the policy of his predecessor: a state temple in the centre of walled city and intensive irrigation- and waterworks. What is unique about Phnom Bakheng is that it is the first temple built in the later-to-be-capital of Angkor, and that it is the first temple in Angkor built on a natural hill. So, in fact, Angkor started with this temple. Phnom Bakheng is 60 meters high and used to be accessible by a steep, muddy road that requires good shoes or an elephant trail that winds along the south side of the hill. The former was open in 2004 but closed in 2011, leaving the easier way as the only option. Safer and better accessible to more people.
Phnom Bakheng has 6 layers, the base has sides of 76 meters, the top layer has 5 prasats in the same emplacement as at the Bakong-temple: on in the middle, 4 at each corner. Stairs are present in the middle of each side with guarding lions on each side. The only existing prasat is the one in the middle, the only surviving one. This is the actual shrine. Except this 6th top layer, all the 5 other layers have 12 prasats made of sandstone, so 60 in total. Surrounding the pyramid are 44 smaller prasats made of brick. With its total of 109 towers Phnom Bakheng is a representation of Mount Meru in the the Indian cosmology: 5 peaks, 7 layers (when counting the base also), 33 gods as the number of prasats on each side.
The temple itself is interesting and certainly worth the climb to the top, which most of the way is shaded.
