Bapuon

Baphuon. Dedicated to Lord Shiv and located in Siem Reap, it was bulit by King Uday?dityavarman I in the 11th century and has beautiful bas reliefs. (10 kms; tour: 90 min.) The Baphuon is a temple at Angkor, Cambodia. It is located in Angkor Thom, northwest of the Bayon. Also called "golden mountain" (svarn?dr?), the Baphuon is built on an artificial hill. The temple was originally dedicated to Shiva and late converted to a Theravada Buddhist temple.[1] The dating of the temple has been fractious; recent work has shown that it was not built during the reign of Uday?dityavarman II, as is popularly reported. In 2015 a French team directly dates four iron crampons integrated into the structure using the AMS Carbon-14 method, revealed the construction was much earlier than thought and can now be considered as the major temple associated with Suryavarman I (1010–1050CE), a ruler which had no temple previously associated with his reign.