Phimai
The town of Phimai, located 270 km (168 mi.) north-east of Bangkok on the almost bare Khorat Plateau, was founded by the Khmers. The shrine is the largest and, without doubt, best preserved example in this area of Khmer art in Thailand
It was built only a few years after the important temple sites of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Phimai's temple site is certainly considerably smaller than Angkor Wat, but, like its famous model, the most beautiful and purest Khmer style is evident in its design and its artistic quality.
By car: from Nakhon Ratchasima Highway 2 to Talat Khae (44 km (27 mi.)), then right along 206 (signpost; a total of 56 km (35 mi.)).
By bus: from Bangkok Northeastern Bus Terminal and Nakhon Ratchasima.
By rail: nearest station Nakhon Ratchasima.
By air: nearest airport Nakhon Ratchasima (daily from Bangkok).
Discoveries of clay fragments and jewelry provide evidence that the area around Phimai had already been settled during the Neolithic period. In the 11th c. the Khmers had the town fortified and developed it into the center of their empire. Like other towns in north Thailand, i.e. Buriram, Chaiyaphum and Lampang, Phimai lies on the route which linked Angkor to its provinces and which could be reconstructed from findings; the distance between Phimai and Angkor measured approximately 240 km (149 mi.). As the finds tell, Phimai was at that time a very important religious town.
In the 14th c., when the first ruler of Ayutthaya, King Rama Thibodi I (1350-69), conquered Angkor, Phimai lost importance as many of its impressive buildings collapsed. After Ayutthaya's destruction by the Burmese in 1767 and the fall of the empire, Phimai became the main town of a principality. This, however, was integrated into the new kingdom of Siam in 1768 after King Taksin's victory over Prince Phiphit of Phimai. The ruined town of Phimai was restored with considerable expenditure in the 1980s and opened to the public again as Phimai Historical Park.
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