Heritage site
Phnom Santuk
ភ្នំសន្ទុក
Phnom Santuk (ភ្នំសន្ទុក) is a sacred hill in Kampong Thom province, Cambodia, crowned by a Wat, pagodas and Buddha images carved in its rock.[1] Hello Angkor traces its history as a sacred mountain to the 15th century or perhaps earlier.[1] It is a place of Buddhist pilgrimage.[2]
Location
The hill stands in Kakaoh commune (also written Ko Koh), Santuk district.[1][3] It lies south or southeast of the provincial town, about 15 kilometers (9 miles)[2][4] or 17 kilometers (11 miles) away.[3] Lonely Planet gives its height as 207 meters (679 feet).[2] From the boulders just below the summit, the view runs south toward the Tonle Sap.[2]
Tourism Cambodia counts four hills in the site: Phnom Srah Kmao (also called Phnom Tbeng), Phnom Penhum (Phnom Kraper), Phnom Champa and Phnom Santuk itself. It lists older names for the hill: Phnom Thom and Phnom Arth Santuk in history, and Phnom Chorm Chong Kiri, Phnom Krop Tuk and Phnom Preah Bat Chann Tuk.[3]
The summit
A staircase of 809 steps climbs to the top, and a paved road of about 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) also reaches it.[2][4] The summit holds an active Wat, with a gilded pagoda whose white walls are covered in Khmer script. Smaller shrines and figures stand around it, joined by curved cement bridges.[4][2] Wats, stupas and Buddha images old and new stand together on the hill.[2] Macaques live on the grounds.[2][1]
Many Buddha images are carved from the rock of the hill. They show the Buddha in many ritual postures.[1] Below the southern side of the summit lie several reclining Buddhas. Some were carved into the living rock centuries ago, and others are modern figures cast in cement.[2] Tourism Cambodia counts three large Buddhas carved from the rock and shown reaching Nirvana, each more than 10 meters (33 feet) long.[3]
Near the main pagoda stands Prasat Touch, also written Prasat Tuch, a pyramid-shaped sanctuary (prasat) of carved sandstone.[3][2] It has three tiers and is about 3 meters (10 feet) high.[3] It stands beside a cement temple, which Tourism Cambodia describes as an ancient wooden temple, and a rectangular pond of 10 by 4 meters (33 by 13 feet).[3] At the main lookout, a large structure that Travelfish likens to a flying saucer rises over the statue of a man. Travelfish writes that local people identify him as King-Father Sihanouk in his youth.[4]
History
Local tradition, as Tourism Cambodia gives it, holds that the shrines and statues were made in the reign of Preah Ponhea Dharma Reacha, which it dates to 1474 to 1494.[3] In his history of the kingdom of Cambodia (1883), Jean Moura recorded that in 1492 the king went to Phnom Santuk to preside over funeral ceremonies.[1]
In 1572, when the capital was at Longvek, the king of Laos sent two ministers and 1,000 soldiers to Cambodia to make it accept Lao overlordship. He challenged the Khmer king to a combat between elephants, one for each side, held south of Phnom Santuk. The Khmer elephant won.[5]
Lunet de Lajonquière listed it in his inventory of the monuments of Cambodia in 1902, and Parmentier added it to his supplement in 1913. The 1926 list of historical monuments gave it as number 190, for the carved rocks on the hill and a reclining Buddha on the plain.[1]
Visiting
The road to the hill leaves National Road 6 to the east at about the 149-kilometer marker. It runs about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) to the foot of the stairs.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Hello Angkor, Rodney Charles L'Huillier, Phnom Santuk (last updated January 1, 2026)
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Lonely Planet, Phnom Santuk (undated)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Tourism Cambodia, Phnom Santuk (Santuk Mountain), Kampong Thom travel guide (undated)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Travelfish, Stuart McDonald, Phnom Santuk, Kompong Thom (February 24, 2019)
- ↑ Yosothor, Nhim Sotheavin, Considerations Regarding the Fall of Longvek, UDAYA, Journal of Khmer Studies No. 15 (2020)