Lolei Temple

This guide to Lolei Temple in Siem Reap begins with a question, where did the water go. In 893, King Yasovarman the First built these four brick towers as an island shrine for his own parents and grandparents, at the center of a reservoir nearly four kilometers long. It follows how that reservoir silted away and the capital it served, Hariharalaya, was abandoned once the king moved his throne north to Angkor. Only the northeastern tower still holds its shape, its leaning neighbors crumbling beside a pagoda that grew up around them.