Phanom Rung Historical Park

Khmer Hindu Sanctuary On An Extinct Volcano, Built In Stages From About The 10th To 13th Centuries; The Sun Aligns Through Its Fifteen Doorways A Few Times A Year · Chaloem Phra Kiat, Buriram

Prasat Phanom Rung is the most complete and most beautiful Khmer temple in Thailand, set on the summit of an extinct volcano above the rice plains of Buriram in the lower northeast. Built in stages from about the tenth to the thirteenth century as a Hindu sanctuary dedicated to Shiva, whose mountain home it symbolised, it is approached like Angkor: along a long processional way lined with lotus-bud posts, over a naga bridge, up five terraced flights of steps and across a second naga bridge into a gallery that encloses the pink sandstone central prang. The carving is superb, above all the Narai Bantomsin lintel of the reclining Vishnu, stolen in the 1960s and returned in the late 1980s after a national campaign. The fifteen doorways of the sanctuary line up so that the sun shines straight through them at sunrise and sunset on a few days a year, drawing crowds and a festival in April. Prasat Muang Tam, a moated temple with lotus ponds, lies at the foot of the hill, and Phimai completes the Khmer route. Public transport is thin; most come by car or tour from Buriram or Nang Rong.

Ta Pek, Chaloem Phra Kiat, Chaloem Phra Kiat, Buriram, 31110, Thailand

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: Phanom Rung has opened every day from about 6 am to 6 pm, with last entry around 5.30 pm, and on the sun alignment days and during the April festival it may open before dawn or stay open after sunset; Prasat Muang Tam has kept similar daytime hours. The information centre keeps shorter hours, roughly 9 am to 4 pm. There is no weekly closing day at the temples themselves. The traps that ruin a day are arriving at midday in the hot season, getting stranded without transport between the temples and Nang Rong, missing the alignment because of wrong dates or cloud, and finding every Buriram hotel full on a MotoGP or big match weekend. Confirm current times before relying on them.

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