A remarkably intact Khmer hospital chapel at Ban Yang Ku, with a village temple built around it six centuries after it was abandoned.
ปรางค์กู่ · Prang Ku
| Official name | ปรางค์กู่ — Prang Ku |
|---|---|
| Where | Ma-ue, Thawat Buri, Roi Et |
| 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 Registered 8 March B.E. 2478 (1935); land boundary determined 18 November B.E. 2525 (1982), about 2 rai 2 ngan 17 square wa The Fine Arts Department's interpretive page gives both dates and the area in Thai digits as ๒ ไร่ ๒ งาน ๑๗ ตารางวา. The 18 November B.E. 2525 boundary is the same day as the Ku Phon Rakhang instrument recorded elsewhere in this province, which is Royal Gazette vol. 99, part 172; whether the two monuments sit in the same announcement has not been confirmed from the volume itself. |
| Coordinates | 16.077464, 103.735106 ONEP cultural-environment register, site 6364, whose entry names วัดศรีรัตนาราม บ้านยางกู่ ตำบลมะอึ อำเภอธวัชบุรี — the same address the Fine Arts Department gives. Checked against that district and subdistrict. See the open question about ONEP site 6365. |
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 building and the temple around it are two different dates and are kept apart here: the sanctuary is Khmer work of the 18th Buddhist century by the department's reading, while Wat Si Rattanaram was established around it roughly seven centuries later.
Prang Ku stands in the grounds of Wat Si Rattanaram at Ban Yang Ku, in Tambon Ma-ue just east of Roi Et town, and by the Fine Arts Department's own assessment it is in unusually good condition — สมบูรณ์ค่อนข้างมาก, relatively complete. It is built of laterite on a rectangular plan, facing east through a projecting portico with false doors on the other three sides, and three tiers of its stone roof survive with an ornamental finial on top. Most Khmer-culture monuments in Isan have lost their upper work entirely, so a sanctuary that still shows its roof profile is worth the short drive out of town.
The plan is the hospital-chapel plan again. A central sanctuary and a library inside an enclosing wall, with a reservoir outside the north-east corner: the DASTA description says so directly, calling it a group of buildings resembling the arogayasala described in the inscription at Ta Prohm. The library is rectangular and faces west, with a cruciform gateway at its centre. If that reads as familiar after Ku Phon Rakhang, it should — the two are the same building type seventy kilometres apart, and reading them together is the fastest way to understand what the network actually was.
Loose carved stone is kept on the site rather than removed. A sandstone lintel carved with figures seated on the backs of elephants or oxen survives here, along with fragments of colonnettes and other architectural pieces, and the department notes them as preserved in place. The most recent restoration was completed in B.E. 2554.
What makes this monument different from the others in the province is the temple wrapped around it. The Fine Arts Department records that the surrounding wat was established in B.E. 2457 by a decision of the community to build around the ancient sanctuary — not on top of it, and not by clearing it. That is a documented act of continuity rather than an inferred one, and it is why a visitor here encounters an eight-hundred-year-old Khmer ruin as part of a village temple's everyday grounds rather than as a fenced monument in a field.
The central laterite sanctuary on a rectangular plan, facing east through a projecting portico, with false doors on the north, south and west faces.
Three surviving tiers of the stone roof with an ornamental finial — the part almost every comparable monument in Isan has lost.
The library, rectangular and facing west, with a cruciform gateway at its centre.
A sandstone lintel carved with figures seated on the backs of elephants or oxen, kept on the site along with fragments of colonnettes and other worked stone.
The enclosing wall with its gate arches, and the reservoir outside the north-east corner, which is the position that identifies the hospital-chapel plan.
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 | No dress rule is published for the monument. It stands in the grounds of Wat Si Rattanaram, a working village temple, where the ordinary Thai convention applies: shoulders and knees covered, and shoes off inside any hall. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | Ban Yang Ku, Tambon Ma-ue, Thawat Buri district, a short drive east of Roi Et town — the closest of the province's Khmer-culture monuments to the provincial capital. |
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.
No. Prang Ku is a descriptive name and several provinces have one, which is why this page is titled with its province and why its other name, Prasat Nong Ku, is more useful when searching. This monument is at Ban Yang Ku in Thawat Buri district, Roi Et.
The Fine Arts Department and DASTA both read it as an arogayasala, the chapel of one of the hospital foundations described in the inscription at Ta Prohm, built in Khmer style of the Jayavarman VII period. The identification rests on the plan — sanctuary, library, enclosing wall and a pond outside the north-east corner — rather than on an inscription from the site.
Because the village decided to build one there. The Fine Arts Department records that the surrounding temple was established in B.E. 2457 following a community decision to build around the ancient sanctuary, which is a documented act rather than an assumption.
Better than most. The department describes the sanctuary as สมบูรณ์ค่อนข้างมาก, relatively complete, and three tiers of its stone roof survive with the finial in place. The most recent restoration was completed in B.E. 2554.
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 Roi Et’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.