The article credits the courtiers Vishnukumara and Yajnavaraha, who served Rajendravarman II, with building the temple, and notes it is the only major Angkor temple not built by a ruler. The infobox names only Yajnavaraha. It was consecrated on April 22, 967 and expanded in the 11th century. An inscription of 1119 records its rededication to Shiva.
It is built largely of hard red sandstone that can be carved like wood. Three concentric rectangular enclosures lie on an east-west axis, with a 220-foot (67 m) causeway. The inner sanctuary stands on a T-shaped platform with three towers, the central one 32 feet (9.8 m) high.
The temple was rediscovered in 1914. André Malraux stole four devatas in 1923, and they were returned. It was restored in the 1930s through the first major use of anastylosis at Angkor. As of 2010 the first enclosure is open to visitors and the inner temples are roped off.
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