Phnom Bok Temple
Hilltop trio of ninth-century sandstone towers built for the Hindu trinity, reached by hundreds of steps and eyed for a solstice alignment.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Phnom Bok Temple, on a jungle hill northeast of Angkor Wat, follows an American astronomer named Stencel, who stood here at solstice dawn in the nineteen seventies and noticed the sun lining up with the hilltop ruin. It traces the sandstone temple back to King Yasovarman the First, who crowned three hills around his new capital with matching shrines, and the argument scholars still have over whether that alignment was deliberate. You'll reach the platform where a broken Hindu trinity once stood, and hear both sides of that debate.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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