Baksei Chamkrong stands near the south gate of Angkor Thom and below Phnom Bakheng, yet many visitors pass it on the road between larger monuments. The small Hindu temple rewards a deliberate stop. Rising in four steep tiers to a brick sanctuary, it records an early stage of Khmer temple-mountain architecture and preserves an unusually precise Sanskrit inscription.
APSARA National Authority dates the monument to the early tenth century and associates its construction with King Harshavarman I in memory of Yasovarman I. King Rajendravarman II later restored it after returning the capital to Angkor. The doorway inscription records a dedication at 9:40 a.m. on Wednesday, 23 February 948 and presents a genealogy of Khmer rulers framed through mythic ancestry.
