Phimeanakas is located inside the walled enclosure of the Royal Palace of Angkor Thom north of Baphuon.

[1]: 103  The buildings there from his reign are enclosed by a wall 600 by 250 m, with five gopuram, and include the Southern and Northern Khleangs.

[4]: 95 The tower was originally crowned with a golden pinnacle, as Zhou Daguan described it in The Customs of Cambodia, written in 1297 CE.

According to legend, kings spent the first watch of every night with a woman thought to represent a Nāga in the tower, and during this time not even a queen could intrude.

His second wife, Indradevi, “...composed in impeccable Sanskrit the inscription...panegyric of her sister” Jayarajadevi, which included biographical detail of Jayavarman VII.