The sacred mountain west of Si Thep, with a Mahayana cave sanctuary 21 metres deep holding twelve high-relief carvings — most of them with the heads and hands hacked off by looters — registered in 2022 and inscribed by UNESCO in 2023.
เขาถมอรัตน์ · Khao Thamo Rat
| Official name | เขาถมอรัตน์ — Khao Thamo Rat |
|---|---|
| Where | Phu Nam Yot (ภูน้ำหยด) and Khok Sa-at (โคกสะอาด), Wichian Buri (วิเชียรบุรี) and Si Thep (ศรีเทพ), Phetchabun |
| Royal temple class | Not established from an official register. |
| Monastic order | Not recorded in any register we could read. |
| Ancient monument | Registered national ancient monument Royal Gazette vol. 139, special part 156 ง, p. 24, 4 July B.E. 2565 — ประกาศกรมศิลปากร เรื่อง ขึ้นทะเบียนและกำหนดเขตที่ดินโบราณสถาน, registering โบราณสถานเขาถมอรัตน์ under section 7 of the Ancient Monuments Act B.E. 2504 across ตำบลโคกสะอาด อำเภอศรีเทพ and ตำบลภูน้ำหยด อำเภอวิเชียรบุรี at about 2,398 ไร่ 3 งาน 70 ตารางวา. Signed by Director-General Kittiphan Phansuwan on 29 March B.E. 2565. This instrument has a text layer, so every figure quoted from it was read as text and none rests on machine reading of a scan. Note the addresses: the instrument registers the mountain across two subdistricts in two different districts, while the department's register addresses the record under ตำบลภูน้ำหยด อำเภอวิเชียรบุรี alone. Note the dates too — the statutory registration was signed in March 2022 and published that July, a year before the World Heritage inscription, so the protection was in place first. As with Khao Klang Nok, the department's heritage flag on this record reads ไม่เป็นแหล่งมรดกโลก even though UNESCO names the cave as a component of property 1662. |
| World Heritage | The Ancient Town of Si Thep and its Associated Dvaravati Monuments (1662) |
| Coordinates | 15.494121, 100.989183 Fine Arts Department national ancient monument register, monument 0006881 เขาถมอรัตน์, which the register addresses at ตำบลภูน้ำหยด อำเภอวิเชียรบุรี while the 2022 registering instrument names both ตำบลโคกสะอาด อำเภอศรีเทพ and ตำบลภูน้ำหยด อำเภอวิเชียรบุรี |
Thai temple histories mix two different kinds of statement, and this guide keeps them apart. What a register, a gazette entry, an inscription or a dated royal act shows is one thing. What the chronicles and the temple itself hold is another, and it is worth telling as what it is.
The summit monument cannot now be dated from its own fabric, because the register states it has been destroyed to the point where only broken laterite and brick remain scattered about.
Khao Thamorrat is a large, isolated mountain on the west bank of the Pa Sak that can be seen from a long way off, and the Fine Arts Department's register treats that visibility as the whole point. Before any of the cities existed it was a waymark for people moving through the basin. Once a substantial town grew on the eastern bank, the mountain became part of how that town understood itself — the register describes it as the city's sacred mountain and the seat of the deity protecting the territory, and as a special quarter set aside for ritual and for pilgrimage. Its relationship to Si Thep is a planning relationship, in the department's reading, not a coincidence of geography.
The sanctuary is inside a natural cave chamber that was adapted rather than cut: 4.6 metres wide, about 21 metres deep, with a ceiling around 12 metres up. Near the middle of the chamber stands a natural limestone pillar you can walk all the way around, and the carvings are on that pillar and on the inner wall. There are twelve of them, in high relief. The register itemises the subjects: standing and seated Buddha figures making the gesture of teaching, a seated Buddha in meditation, a four-armed bodhisattva standing in the triple-bend posture and making the gesture of giving, a bell-shaped stupa and a dharmachakra pillar. In a later period they were finished with stucco and lacquer.
Then the register says something most state records leave out. In the department's own words, it is regrettable that ill-intentioned people went in and chiselled and knocked away the heads and hands of nearly all of these figures. The monument on the summit fared worse: the register records it as destroyed to the point where nothing of its form survives, only scattered fragments of laterite and brick. A reader planning a visit should know that what is there is a damaged sanctuary, and the damage is recent enough that the state names it in the register entry.
Statutory protection came late and came properly. In March 2022 the Director-General of the Fine Arts Department signed a registration with a determined land boundary under section 7 of the Ancient Monuments Act, published in the Royal Gazette that July, covering about 2,398 rai 3 ngan 70 square wa across two subdistricts in two districts — Khok Sa-at in Si Thep and Phu Nam Yot in Wichian Buri. That is a year before UNESCO inscribed the cave as the third component of the Si Thep property. The mountain lies within a national reserved forest and is looked after by Si Thep Historical Park together with Regional Office 4 Lopburi.
The cave chamber itself: about 4.6 metres wide, 21 metres deep, with the ceiling some 12 metres overhead, and a natural limestone pillar near the middle that can be walked around on all sides.
Twelve high-relief carvings on that pillar and on the inner wall — standing and seated Buddhas in the teaching gesture, a seated Buddha in meditation, a four-armed bodhisattva in the triple-bend posture making the gesture of giving, a bell-shaped stupa and a dharmachakra pillar. Traces of the later stucco and lacquer finish remain.
The damage, which is impossible to miss and which the register names: the heads and hands of nearly all twelve figures have been chiselled off.
The summit, where a laterite and brick Dvaravati monument stood. The register records it as destroyed beyond recognition, with only broken laterite and brick scattered about.
The mountain in the landscape — the reason the whole place matters. It stands alone and is visible across the Pa Sak basin, roughly 14 kilometres west of the walled city by the department's measure.
This is a working place of worship for millions of people rather than an attraction, and it is treated as one at the gate. Where a figure below is blank, no source we are prepared to cite states it.
| Hours | Not established from an official source. |
|---|---|
| Admission | Not established from an official source. |
| Dress | A climb to a cave on a forested limestone mountain rather than a temple visit. Footwear that grips matters more than covered shoulders, though the cave is a place of veneration and is treated as one. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | On the west bank of the Pa Sak, roughly 14 kilometres west of the walled city of Si Thep by the Fine Arts Department's reckoning, inside a national reserved forest. It is administered by Si Thep Historical Park with Fine Arts Department Regional Office 4 Lopburi, and reaching the cave means going up the mountain. |
Every temple reference repeats claims nobody has checked. These are the ones we went looking for and could not stand up, listed so you know exactly where this page stops.
Twelve Mahayana Buddhist carvings in high relief, on a natural limestone pillar in the middle of the chamber and on the inner wall: Buddhas standing and seated, a four-armed bodhisattva, a bell-shaped stupa and a dharmachakra pillar.
They were deliberately attacked. The Fine Arts Department's own register says the heads and hands of nearly all of them were chiselled and knocked off by ill-intentioned people. The register gives no date for it and records no outcome.
Yes. UNESCO lists the Khao Thamorrat Cave ancient monument as the third component of property 1662, alongside the ancient town and Khao Klang Nok, inscribed in 2023.
Not on published terms. The mountain is in a national reserved forest under Si Thep Historical Park and Regional Office 4 Lopburi, and nothing official read for this page gives hours, a fee or a route. Contact the park before planning a trip.
About 14 kilometres west, by the Fine Arts Department's own measure, on the far side of the Pa Sak. It is a separate journey from the park, not a walk.
Before you go, read the guide to Buddhism and temple etiquette in Thailand — dress, footwear, where photography is not welcome and how to behave around monks. The rest of Phetchabun’s temples are covered here too.
Every temple here sits in a place worth reading about on its own terms. The nationwide temple guide covers the other provinces to the same documentary standard as this page, and says on each one what the record establishes and what it does not.
If you are thinking about more than a visit: work out which Thai visa route fits your situation, and see what is available to rent and buy in residences across Thailand.
Every fact on this page is drawn from the sources above. Where they disagree, this page says so rather than choosing silently. Registrations, fees, hours and access change; confirm anything you are relying on with the authority concerned. BAANLYY LLC is a Nevada company and a listing portal, does not represent any temple, and offers no legal or religious advice.