- Area: Kampong Thom Province > Baray District > Tnaot Chum Commune > Tnaot Chum Village
- | Type: Ancient Remains & Temples
Also recorded as Thnot Chum, West Tnaot Choum Temple, and just Prasat Tnaot Chum. It is a large tall square brick temple that opens to the east with a sandstone doorframe and false doors set in the brickwork on its other sides. The ancient temple is in surprisingly good condition, rising up with four false levels decreasing in size as they go and continuing the theme of false doors flanked by pilasters. The site is/was further surrounded by a moat.
On the eastern side, there is a curious arrangement of pedestals, all differing in design, including a large sandstone vase-shaped object that was perhaps a part of the temple’s crown piece or perhaps part of something else. Where did they all come from?
There is also an impressive lintel depicting a smiling Indra on his ride, the elephant Airvata.
Inside the temple, you can see remains of the rendering on the walls.
In E. Lunet de Lajonquière’s notes from visiting the site in the 1900s, he notes a couple of interesting points
This building is one of the best-preserved brick sanctuaries in Cambodia. The upper pyramidal part is in the form of four floors which reproduce the decoration of the main body, the last being surmounted by a pyramidion that supports the crowning stone. This is cut in the shape of a lotus button resting on a square base: the upper end is arranged to serve as a pole holder.
The interior is absolutely dark and unapproachable, toxic with the accumulated guano of thousands of bats and the like, otherwise empty. Outside, in front of the entrance, are columns decorated with figurines of Buddhas and sculpted semas.
Inscriptions
- A four-sided inscribed stele registered under K. 143 was found at the site noting, in Khmer text, allocations of land and protection of such.
Getting to Thnot Chum Temple – The site can be reached by moto easily enough but this time I had it easy, all thanks to the friendly local who stopped to say hello when I was parked at the pagoda. She kindly led me to the site, the next site, and even back out of the village and to the main road, asking for nothing in return, but after some persisting, I managed to at least pay for a tank of gas for all her trouble and time. Anyways, take the road off the RN6 that leads west and directly to Tnaot Chum Pagoda (listed on google maps) then take the next right and next left through the local village. Nearby and to the north is a smaller but very special temple, Kambot/North Thnot Chum Temple.
Map
Site Info
- Site Name: Tnaot Chum Khang Lech (Pr.) Khmer Name: បា្រសាទត្នោតជុំខាងលិច
- Reference ID: HA11480 | Posted: January 18, 2021 | Last Update: May 11th, 2022
- Other Names: Prasat Tenot Chum, Thnot Chum, West Tnaot Choum Temple, Prasat Tnaot Chum, Prasat Tnot Cum, ប្រាសាទត្នោតជុំខាងលិច,
- Tags/Group: pr, ra, T4, Temples
- Location: Kampong Thom Province > Baray District > Tnaot Chum Commune > Tnaot Chum Village
- MoCFA ID: 187
- IK Number: 151
- Inscription Number/s: K. 143
