Roluos is a Cambodia

Cambodia

Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

n modern small town and an archeological site about 13 km east of Siem Reap along NH6

National Highway 6 (Cambodia)

National Highway 6 or National Road No.6 is one of the national highways of Cambodia. At long, it connects the capital of Phnom Penh with Banteay Meanchey....

. Once it was the seat of Hariharalaya

Hariharalaya

Hariharalaya was an ancient city and capital of the Khmer empire located near Siem Reap, Cambodia in an area now called Roluos. Today, all that remains of the city are the ruins of several royal temples: Preah Ko, the Bakong, Lolei.-Etymology:...

, first capital of Khmer Empire

Khmer Empire

The Khmer Empire was one of the most powerful empires in Southeast Asia. The empire, which grew out of the former kingdom of Chenla, at times ruled over and/or vassalized parts of modern-day Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, and Malaysia. Its greatest legacy is Angkor, the site of the capital city...

 north of Tonlé Sap

Tonlé Sap

The Tonlé Sap is a combined lake and river system of major importance to Cambodia.The Tonlé Sap is the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia and is an ecological hot spot that was designated as a UNESCO biosphere in 1997....

 (as the first capital in the strict sense of the term could have been Indrapura

Indrapura

Indrapura is the name of several historical cities in South Asia and Southeast Asia.-Places:* Indrapura , capital city of the Champa Kingdom in 9th century A.D....

, identifiable with Banteay Prey Nokor).

Among "Rolous Group" of temples there are some of the earliest permanent structures built by Khmer. They mark the beginning of classical period of Khmer civilization, dating from the late 9th century. Some were totally built with bricks, others partially with laterite or sandstone (the first large angkorian temple built with sandstone was possibly Ta Keo

Ta Keo

Ta Keo is a temple-mountain, in Angkor , possibly the first to be built entirely of sandstone by Khmers.-The site:Ta Keo had to be the state temple of Jayavarman V, son of Rajendravarman, who had built Pre Rup...

)

At present it is composed by three major temples: Bakong

Bakong

Bakong is the first temple mountain of sandstone constructed by rulers of the Khmer empire at Angkor near modern Siem Reap in Cambodia. In the final decades of the 9th century AD, it served as the official state temple of King Indravarman I in the ancient city of Hariharalaya, located in an area...

, Lolei

Lolei

Lolei is the northernmost temple of the Roluos group of three late 9th century Hindu temples at Angkor, Cambodia, the others members of which are Preah Ko and the Bakong. Lolei was the last of the three temples to be built as part of the city of Hariharalaya that once flourished at Roluos, and...

 and Preah Ko

Preah Ko

Preah Ko was the first temple to be built in the ancient and now defunct city of Hariharalaya , some 15 kilometers south-east of the main group of temples at Angkor, Cambodia...

, and tiny Prasat Prei Monti. At both Bakong and Lolei there are contemporary Theravada buddhist monasteries.

External links

• Angkor Temple Guide: Roluos Group by Canby Publications