Preah Vihear Temple

Preah Vihear is a triumph of art and architecture, a cultural jewel with a history spanning millennia. Countless pilgrims and monarchs have made the long journey to pray there, though camera toting tourists have replaced the ragged mendicants of the past.

Now accessible from both Cambodia and Thailand, Preah Vihear Temple, located in the Dang-rek mountain range in the far north, only re-penned to visitors in 2003. For decades Thailand claimed the temple as theirs, but on June 15th 1962 the International Court of Justice ruled the temple belonged to Cambodia. The court also obligated Thailand to withdraw all military and police forces stationed nearby and to restore objects pilfered from the ruins.