Bakong

Bakong ( ) is the earliest sandstone temple mountain constructed under the Khmer Empire located at Angkor, near present-day Siem Reap in Cambodia. Built in the late ninth century CE, it served as the official state temple of king Indravarman I within the capital city of Hariharalaya, today known as Roluos.

The structure of Bakong took the shape of a stepped pyramid, popularly identified as temple mountain in early Khmer temple architecture. The striking similarity of the Bakong and Borobudur temple in Java, including architectural details such as the gateways and stairs to the upper terraces, strongly suggests that Borobudur served as the prototype of Bakong. This hypothesis is corroborated by the contact between the earlier Khmer polities and the Shailendra dynasty of the Srivijaya empire, who transmitted not only religious and political models, but also technical and architectural notions that inspired Borobudur, including the arched gateways in corbelling method.