The Roluos Group temples

In the morning we visited three smaller Angkorian temples that we had not visited on our trip in 2009. These temples form part of the Roluos Group, which are spread out over the former site of the royal city of Hariharalaya, and encompass some of the earliest monuments of the Angkor period. We visited (I) Bakong, the first state-temple of the Angkor period, constructed by Indravarman I and consecrated to Shiva in 881; (ii) Preah Ko, the first temple to be built in Hariharalaya, constructed by Indravarman I in 879 to honor the spirits of his parents and grandparents, and also the original founder of Angkor, Jayavarman II; and (iii) Lolei, which originally stood on an artificial island in the centre of the Indratataka Baray, though the reservoir is now dry, and which has some well preserved Sanskrit inscriptions.Read more