The small Khmer sanctuary two kilometres south-east of the old city of Sakon Nakhon, studied by the Fine Arts Department alongside Narai Cheng Weng and Phu Phek and the least documented of the three.
พระธาตุดุม · Phra That Dum
| Official name | พระธาตุดุม — Phra That Dum |
|---|---|
| Where | That Choeng Chum, Mueang Sakon Nakhon, Sakon Nakhon |
| 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. 99 (special issue) part 172, 18 November B.E. 2525 — determination of the land boundary of the national ancient monument. Earlier: the list of national ancient monuments at vol. 52, p. 3699, 8 March B.E. 2478. Both instruments were read from the Fine Arts Department's own register service on 26 September 2026, and the service also returns the filename of the department's boundary plan raster for the B.E. 2525 instrument. The register carries the monument at status 5 — registered with a determined land boundary. Note that the boundary instrument for this monument is a month later than the one covering Phra That Narai Cheng Weng and Phra That Choeng Chum, so the three were not gazetted together despite appearing together in the B.E. 2478 list. |
| Coordinates | 17.144092, 104.164004 Fine Arts Department national monument register, the department's own registered point for monument 0003372, read from its province service on 26 September 2026. It falls south-east of the city centre in Mueang Sakon Nakhon district, consistent with the department's own statement that the monument lies about two kilometres south-east of the old city. |
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 department's dating is stylistic and its description is brief — this is the least documented of the three Khmer sanctuaries it studied together in this province. Notably, the department names the religion only as Hindu here, without the Shaiva qualification it applies to Narai Cheng Weng and Phu Phek, and this page does not supply the qualification on its behalf.
Phra That Dum stands about two kilometres south-east of the old city of Sakon Nakhon, inside the compound of the monastery that takes its name, and its position is the first thing worth understanding about it. The Fine Arts Department's account of the Mahidharapura dynasty describes it in relation to the old town rather than to the modern city, which is the right frame: this sanctuary and Phra That Narai Cheng Weng sit on opposite sides of the settlement, roughly six kilometres apart, and Phra That Choeng Chum stands in the middle of it. Whatever Angkorian arrangement they belonged to, they belonged to it together, and the registered Khmer bridge at monument 0003376 lies between two of them.
The department calls it a prasat in ancient Khmer art in the Hindu persuasion and dates it to roughly the late 16th to 17th Buddhist century — the same horizon it gives the other two. It is worth noticing what the department does not say. For Narai Cheng Weng and for Phu Phek it specifies the Shaiva persuasion; for this monument it says Hindu without qualification. It names sculpture on Narai Cheng Weng in detail and a shivalinga at Phu Phek; for Phra That Dum it names nothing. That is either a real difference in what survives or a real gap in what has been published, and this page does not decide which.
The monument is, however, one of the three the department has taken seriously as a conservation problem. Its Office of Architecture has published a study project covering Phra That Dum together with Prasat Narai Cheng Weng and Prasat Phu Phek, compiled by the specialist architect Wasu Poshyanandana, and comprising current-condition drawings, conjectural reconstruction drawings and restoration drawings for all three. The pairing of the three in one project is the clearest official statement anywhere that these are one group of monuments with one shared conservation question, and it is the reason a visitor with half a day should see all three rather than only the famous one in town.
The legal record is now complete and citable. The monument appears in the Fine Arts Department's early list of national ancient monuments published in the Royal Gazette at volume 52, page 3699, on 8 March B.E. 2478, and its land boundary was determined by a later instrument at volume 99, special issue, part 172, on 18 November B.E. 2525. That boundary instrument is a separate one from the instrument that covers Narai Cheng Weng and Phra That Choeng Chum, published four weeks earlier, so the province's Khmer monuments were bounded in at least two tranches rather than one.
A single Khmer prasat, small by the standards of the lower north-east, standing in the compound of a working Buddhist monastery south-east of the city.
Laterite and sandstone fabric of the same building tradition as Narai Cheng Weng, which the Fine Arts Department studied alongside it in one conservation project.
The setting relative to the old town: this sanctuary and Narai Cheng Weng stand on opposite sides of the historic settlement, with Phra That Choeng Chum between them.
The Fine Arts Department's boundary marking, the monument having had its land boundary determined by an instrument of B.E. 2525.
The modern monastery buildings around it, which are a separate institution from the sanctuary and centuries younger.
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 | The sanctuary stands inside a working monastery. Cover shoulders and knees and treat the compound as a place of worship. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | About two kilometres south-east of the old city of Sakon Nakhon, in Mueang Sakon Nakhon district, inside the grounds of Wat Phra That Dum — the position the Fine Arts Department's own account states. |
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.
The Fine Arts Department dates it by style to roughly the late 16th to 17th Buddhist century — the late eleventh to twelfth century of the common era. That is a stylistic attribution rather than a date from an inscription.
The Fine Arts Department describes it as a prasat in the Hindu persuasion. Unlike its descriptions of Narai Cheng Weng and Phu Phek it does not add the Shaiva qualification, and this page does not add it either.
Yes, and the Fine Arts Department's own conservation project is the argument: it studied this monument, Narai Cheng Weng and Phu Phek together as one group. The three stand around the old town in a deliberate arrangement.
No official source read for this page publishes them, so they are left unconfirmed rather than guessed. The monument stands in the open air inside a monastery compound.
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 Sakon Nakhon’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.