Prasat Phanom Wan

Prasat Phanom Wan (ปราสาทหินพนมวัน) is a Khmer temple ruin located between the more famous and big one in Phimai and the city Nakhon Ratchasima (Khorat). It consists of a about 50x50 m big area enclosed by a stone wall, with a single shrine in the middle.

I went there on the return way from Phimai, so this much smaller and less reconstructed site failed to impress me that much after seeing Phimai, but the fact that I was the only one exploring there and the more ruined state also has a lot charm. Since I did a lot of photos in Phimai already, I only did very few there, and only one turned out good enough to show here. But on Wikimedia Commons it has several more from other visitors.

I only came to go there because I bought a book on Khmer sites in Thailand in preparation for the visit to Phimai, and noticed that there a second place which nearly on the way. According to that book, this temple was built between the late 9th and late 11th century, and was used for Shiva worship, and at other times Vishnu worship and finally Buddhism was practiced there. It was rediscovered by the French explorer Henri Mouhot in 1861.