evidence: Preah Vihear was one of the Khmer Empire’s most important Shiva temples. Shiva has a strong association with mountains, as his mythical abode is at the peak of Mt. Kailash, a mountain which really exists in present-day Tibet. The Khmer Empire itself was founded atop Mt. Kulen, while the mountaintop temple Phnom Bakheng was also meant to represent Mt. Kailash. Considering Preah Vihear’s size, though, this may have been the most significant. As Khmer kings traditionally identified themselves as incarnations of Shiva, they most likely would’ve made royal pilgrimages here from Angkor. [...] Up until very recently, the temple of Preah Vihear and the territory around it were in dispute for decades. After the French colonialists left Cambodia, the border between Cambodia and Thailand was never officially resolved. The two countries took the matter to the International Court of Justice in 1962, who ruled in favor of Cambodia. For whatever reason, though, the ICJ failed to make a clear ruling on the land surrounding the temple, and the area remained in dispute. Preah Vihear was actually accessible from both countries for many years. In 2008, the temple was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which reignited tensions over which country owned it. Over the next three years, fighting would break out that ultimately ended in the death of 8 soldiers. Thousands of civilians had to be displaced and there was also slight damage to the temple itself.