Prasat Ong Mong

ប្រាសាទអុងម៉ុង

Province

Siem Reap

Period

Angkor period (802–1431 CE)

Condition

Intact

Access

Easy access

Visited

31 December 2024

Coordinates

13.43468, 103.90991

How to find it

In the village of Srah Srang Cheung, north of Srah Srang, inside the Angkor park, so you need an Angkor pass. The roads there are fine for a car or tuk-tuk.

The temple is in someone's garden. Introduce yourself to the family and ask before you walk in.

Open in Google Maps →

Loading map…

Field notes

It may well be the smallest temple at Angkor. Prasat Ong Mong is a single shrine, small enough to take in at a glance, standing in a family's garden in the village of Srah Srang Cheung, just north of the Srah Srang reservoir. Few visitors come, and even many people in Siem Reap don't know it is there.

It is built entirely of laterite: upright slabs for walls, big blocks laid across for a roof, fitted together roughly. There is no carving and no brick, just the pitted red-brown stone that most Angkor temples kept for their foundations and enclosure walls.

The marker on site dates it to the late 10th century, the reign of Rajendravarman II, who built Pre Rup a short way to the east. It is recorded in the Inventaire Khmer as IK 530.04, and is also known as Prasat Top Pi.

Angkorlateritesmallest temple

Sources

Inventaire Khmer IK 530.04; CISARK 1019. Beyond Angkor: Prasat Ong Mong.

Photographs

A tiny shrine of rough laterite blocks, upright slabs capped by heavy laid stones, in a garden of dry leaves and trees — The whole temple: a single small shrine of laterite, the walls upright slabs, the roof laid blocks.

The laterite shrine seen from one corner, banana plants and trees growing close around it — Banana plants and trees grow right up to the stones. The temple stands in a family's garden.

The back of the shrine, big pitted laterite blocks stacked unevenly, a young plant growing from the base — Big laterite blocks, roughly stacked. Laterite is soft when dug and hardens in the air.

Looking between two pitted laterite slabs towards the shrine's inner doorway — Looking between the slabs to the doorway.

The shrine's small doorway seen between two tree trunks, the floor deep in fallen leaves — The doorway, framed by two trees.

A white stone marker reading Ong Mong Temple, Late 10th Century, in Khmer and English, under palm fronds — The marker gives the temple's Khmer name, ប្រាសាទអុងម៉ុង, and dates it to the late 10th century.