Setting sun to pierce 15 gateways at Buri Ram temple in rare event next week

Buri Ram’s famous antique temple, Prasat Hin Phanom Rung, will be lit up by the rays of the setting sun on three days next week for the last time this year.

The phenomenon of bright rays shining out of the temple’s 15 doorways can be witnessed from 5.55pm to 6.30pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The local office of the Fine Arts Department said the temple complex will be closed half an hour later at 6.30pm on the three days.

It said visitors should be able to witness the natural phenomenon provided it doesn’t rain and there are no clouds blocking the sun.

Prasat Hin Phanom Rung in Buri Ram’s Chalerm Phrakiat district is a majestic Khmer temple believed to have been built between the 10th and 13th centuries to worship the Hindu god, Shiva.

Setting sun to pierce 15 gateways at Buri Ram temple in rare event next week The temple complex, often referred to as Thailand’s very own Angkor Wat, sits on the edge of an extinct volcano some 400 metres above the sea.

A similar phenomenon was witnessed at the temple last month, when the sun aligned perfectly to shine its rays through the 15 doorways while rising at 5.45am on September 9, 10 and 11. However, low clouds dimmed the spectacle.

Setting sun to pierce 15 gateways at Buri Ram temple in rare event next week The astronomical phenomenon takes place four times a year. The sun aligns perfectly during sunrise in April and September and during sunset in March and October.