Prakhon Chai - Wat Prasat Phanom Rung

Together with the ruined town of Phimai, Wat Prasat Phanom Rung, an important station and place of worship on the route between Angkor Wat, the main town of the empire in present-day Cambodia, and Phimai is one of Thailand's most important Khmer buildings. The access road to the wat (signposted) turns off southwards from Highway 24 at the village of Ban Ta Ko approximately 18 km (11 mi.) east of the junction of Highway 218 (from Buriram). If traveling by bus go from Buriram to Nang Rong, then to Ban Ta Ko station on Highway 24, from there use pick-up taxis. The wat lies on the summit of a 158 m (519 ft) hill, from where there is a view across the plain in the north and the densely wooded mountain slopes in the south. The geometric layout bears witness to a powerful desire of the Khmer architects to create a prestigious image. A 12-m (39-ft) wide flight of stone steps and a road lined with stone pillars leads from a U-shaped building called Rung Chang Puak (Stall of the White Elephant), some of whose walls are still standing, to another monumental flight of steps articulated by half-landings and ornamented with nagas (heads in the early Angkor Wat style). These steps and the right-hand corner of the wall, which surrounds the site, were probably not added until later, in the 12th c., under the Burmese king Suryavarman II. Note the sculptures at the entrance, which depict scenes from Hindu mythology.

On the inside of the encircling wall there are galleries which open on to the inner courtyard through cross-shaped gates and windows. The oldest buildings are three brick prangs, of which the ruins of two are still visible (early 10th c.). The two laterite constructions on either side of the main entrance were built at the end of the 12th c. The remains of a small sandstone prang with beautiful sculptures (in the south-west corner) were rebuilt into a chapel.

The shrine in its present form, a sandstone prang on a square pedestal placed on to a smaller prang, probably dates from the 11th/12th c. Gopuram (door towers), marking the entrance to the holy area, were positioned on all four sides of the tower.

The east porch continues as a passage (Antarala) to an 8 m (26 ft) by 10 m (33 ft) hall (mandapa) open on its two narrower sides; on each of the longer sides are a portal and two windows. Of note are the sculptures (10th/11th c. figurative representations and ornamental decoration) on the tympanums, lintels, walls and pillars, which demonstrate the highest technical and artistic quality. The figurative representations depict scenes from Indian (Brahmin) mythology. Five hermits, one particularly emphasized, are portrayed above the shrine's eastern inner door. This depiction stems from a legend about a highly respected man who retreated into the hermitage here: the first buildings of Prasat Phanom Rung were built for him.

Some early sculptures important to art history were found in the Prasat's grounds: the 53-cm (21-in.) tall stone torso of a woman, probably Uma, Shiva's wife, in the Khmer style of Koh Ker (first half of the 10th c.), and six new red sandstone blocks with reliefs (38 cm (15 in.) by 47 cm (181/2 in.)), which each depict an Indian god of the points of the compass (in the Khmer style of Baphuon, 1010-80). There should have been a total of ten such blocks: eight for the points of the compass and one each for above and below. They probably stood in the open and had an opening in the top in the shape of a lotus bud for donations. All named finds were taken to the nearby museum, a branch of the Department of Fine Arts in Bangkok, at Prasat Phanom Rung.