Ak Yum Gambhiresvara Temple, Cambodia

Address

Ak Yum Gambhiresvara Temple Krong Siem Reap, Cambodia

Diety

Gambhiresvara

Introduction

Ak Yum is an ancient temple in the Angkor region of Cambodia. The historically important ruins of a small brick and sandstone temple in very poor condition. The earliest elements date from the pre-Angkorian 8th century. Inscriptions indicate that a temple dedicated to the Hindu ‘god of the depths’ Gambhiresvara was previously located on the same spot. Ak Yom is the earliest known example of the ‘temple-mountain’ architectural design.

Puranic Significance

The origins and repair history of the temple are unclear. Stone carrying inscriptions, including one with a date corresponding to Saturday 10 June 674 AD during the reign of king Jayavarman I. The first structure on the site was a single-chamber brick sanctuary, probably constructed in the latter part of the 8th century. Later it was remade into a larger stepped pyramid structure, with a base approximately 100 meters square. The expansion probably took place in the early 9th Century during the reign of King Jayavarman II, who is widely recognized as the founder of the Khmer Empire.