Prasat Ban Ben

Prasat Ban Ben is a Hindu Khmer sanctuary in Nong Om subdistrict, Thung Si Udom district — three brick prangs built in a north-south row on a shared laterite and sandstone base, facing east through a single gateway, enclosed by a low stone wall. It’s a Brahmanical shrine rather than the later Buddhist arogyasala type built as roadside chapels under Jayavarman VII; the carved imagery recovered here is squarely Hindu. Entry is free.

Fine Arts Department dating, based on the style of the lintel carvings found during excavation, places construction around the late 15th to early 16th Buddhist century — roughly the late 10th to 11th century CE, putting it in the same architectural period as other Baphuon-era Khmer sanctuaries scattered across the Isan plateau. The 1990 excavation recovered two significant lintels: one showing the god Indra riding Erawan, the three-headed elephant, and another depicting the Nine Celestial Guardians — deities associated with the cardinal and ordinal directions in Hindu cosmology. Both pieces have since been moved to the Ubon Ratchathani National Museum, so what’s visible at the site today is the brick-and-stone architecture itself rather than the decorative carving that made the find significant.

That’s worth setting expectations around: this is a modest rural ruin, not a restored monument with carvings still in place. What survives is three brick towers and their stone base, standing in open farmland with rice paddies around the site — closer to an intact archaeological footprint than a dramatic Angkor-scale complex.

Watch out: there’s little shade across the open site and no facilities on the grounds — bring water and sun protection, and expect uneven ground around the brick bases.

Insider Tip: Pair the visit with the Ubon Ratchathani National Museum back in the provincial capital — seeing the Erawan and Nine Guardians lintels there gives far more context than the bare brick towers on site alone.

The site sits about 63 km from Ubon Ratchathani city, reachable by local roads but with no direct public transport, so plan on a car or hired driver. The Ubon Ratchathani National Museum holds the lintels recovered here and is the natural pairing; Ban Kan Lueang Archaeological Site covers the province’s other major excavated site if you want to build a fuller archaeology day. The Ubon Ratchathani hub rounds out the rest of the province.