01A temple that climbs
Most Khmer temples rise in tiers on flat ground. Preah Vihear runs in a line instead, about 800 metres long, from a stairway on the northern slope up through five gopuras to the sanctuary on the cliff edge. Each gopura stands higher than the last, so the pilgrim climbs toward Shiva as toward Kailash. Kings added to it for three centuries. Suryavarman I left the most building, and inscriptions record that Suryavarman II’s guru Divakarapandita performed rites here. The carved lintels include the churning of the ocean and Shiva with Uma on Nandi.
02The court and the border
The easy approach is from the Thai side, while the temple looks down on Cambodia, and that geography made it a quarrel. On 15 June 1962 the International Court of Justice ruled that the temple stands on Cambodian territory. UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site on 7 July 2008, and the listing set off armed clashes between the two countries along the border until 2011. In November 2013 the Court gave a further judgment that the whole promontory of the temple belongs to Cambodia.
The life of this place
- 15 June 1962The International Court of Justice rules the temple is in Cambodia.
- 7 July 2008Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- 2008–2011Border clashes between Cambodian and Thai forces damage parts of the site.
- 11 November 2013The Court rules that the whole promontory belongs to Cambodia.
Reached from the Cambodian side by a steep road up the escarpment from Sra Em. Carry water; the cliff edge behind the sanctuary has no railing.
