View source for Lolei

{{Infobox Mandir
| name               = Lolei
| image              = Lolei1.JPG
| alt          = 
| caption            = 
| map_type        = Cambodia
| map_caption        = Location in Cambodia
| coordinates        = {{coord|13|21|10|N|103|58|26|E|type:landmark_region:KH|display=inline,title}}
| other_names        = 
| proper_name        = 
 
 
 
 
 
| country            = [[Cambodia]]
| state     = 
| district           = 
| location           = [[Roluos (temples)|Roluos]], [[Siem Reap province|Siem Reap]]
| elevation_m        = 
| deity      = [[Shiva]]
| festivals= 
| architecture       = [[Khmer architecture|Khmer]] ([[Preah Ko]] to [[Bakheng]] style)
| temple_quantity  = 
| monument_quantity= 
| inscriptions       = 
| year_completed         = 893 A.D.
| creator            = [[Yasovarman I]]
| website            = 
}}
{{Contains special characters|Khmer}}
'''Lolei''' ({{langx|km|ប្រាសាទលលៃ}}) is the northernmost temple of the [[Roluos (temples)|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 in 893 the [[Khmer empire|Khmer]] king [[Yasovarman I]] dedicated it to [[Shiva]] and members of the royal family.   The name "Lolei" is thought to be a modern corruption of the ancient name "Hariharalaya,"<ref name=Coedes>{{cite book|last= Coedès|first= George|authorlink= George Coedès|editor= Walter F. Vella|others= trans.Susan Brown Cowing|title= The Indianized States of Southeast Asia|year= 1968|publisher= University of Hawaii Press|isbn= 978-0-8248-0368-1}}</ref>{{rp|98,112}} which means "the city of [[Harihara]]."  Once an island temple, Lolei was located on an island slightly north of the centre in the now dry Indratataka [[Architecture of Cambodia#Srah and baray|baray]],<ref name=Higham>Higham, C., 2001, The Civilization of Angkor, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, {{ISBN|9781842125847}}</ref>{{rp|60}}  construction of which had nearly been completed under Yasovarman's father and predecessor [[Indravarman I]].  Scholars believe that placing the temple on an island in the middle of a body of water served to identify it symbolically with [[Mount Meru]], home of the gods, which in [[Hindu]] mythology is surrounded by the world oceans.<ref>Jessup, p.77; Freeman and Jacques, pp.202 ff.</ref>

==Site==

[[Image:Lolei2.JPG|left|thumb|This sandstone carving at Lolei shows a fanged dvarapala armed with a trident standing in an arched doorway. At the level of his elbows, two makara heads face outward.]]
Lolei consists of four brick temple towers grouped together on a terrace. The king built Lolei for his ancestors. One for his grandfather, one for his grandmother, one for his father, and one for his mother. The two front towers are for the males while the two towers at the back are for the females.  The two taller towers are for his grandparents while the two shorter towers are for his parents.  Originally, the towers were enclosed by an outer wall access through which was through a gopura, but neither wall nor gopura has survived to the present.  Today, the temple is next to a monastery, just as in the 9th century it was next to an [[ashram]]a.<ref>Freeman and Jacques, p.202.</ref>

The temple towers are known for their decorative elements, including their [[Architecture of Cambodia#Blind door and window|false doors]], their carved [[Architecture of Cambodia#Lintel, pediment, and tympanum|lintels]], and their carved [[Architecture of Cambodia#Apsara and devata|devatas]] and [[Architecture of Cambodia#Dvarapala|dvarapalas]] which flank both real and false doors.  Some of the motifs represented in the lintels and other sandstone carvings are the sky-god [[Indra]] mounted on the elephant [[Airavata]], serpent-like monsters called [[Architecture of Cambodia#Makara|makaras]], and multi-headed [[Architecture of Cambodia#Naga|nagas]].

==Footnotes==
<references/>

== References ==

* Michael Freeman and Claude Jacques, ''Ancient Angkor'' (Bangkok: River Books, 1999.)
* Helen Ibbetson Jessup, ''Art & Architecture of Cambodia'' (London: Thames & Hudson, 2004.)

==See also==
{{commons category|Lolei}}
* [[Angkor]]
* [[Architecture of Cambodia]]
* [[Bakong]]
* [[Preah Ko]]

{{Angkorian sites}}
{{SiemReapProvince}}

[[Category:Angkorian sites in Siem Reap province]]
[[Category:Hindu temples in Siem Reap province]]


{{Cambodia-struct-stub}}