In 928, a pretender to the Khmer throne, Jayavarman IV seized power. He established himself in a massive new temple & palace complex which he set up as a rival capital to Angkor at Chok Gyargar, an inhospitable area with little water about sixty miles north of Angkor. 
Jayavarman IV named his new capital Lingapura; today it is known Koh Ker.
Jayavarman ruled the empire for two decades from Koh Ker. At its centre was a great seven-storey pyramid, the tallest in Cambodia, known as Prasat Thom, supporting the massive Devaraja lingam, sixty feet high, probably made of metal, known as “Lord of the Threefold World”.
The capital continued at Koh Ker until the death of Jayavarman IV in 1001.
As one historian has commented, “We do not know the basis of his colossal self-esteem, the nature of his following, or what prompted him to shift the capital from Yasodharapura..."
"Although Jayavarman IV’s extravagant claims may seem hollow or pompous to us, it is clear that, by force or persuasion, he was able to rule at Koh Ker over large numbers of people and in considerable splendor for twenty years."
The site contains over forty temples constructed in this short period. His influence may well have extended into what is now northeastern Thailand where several temples in the Koh Ker style have survived."
The site was a last refuge of the Khmer Rouge and has only recently beem cleared of landmines
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