Phra Prang Sam Yot

Phra Prang Sam Yot, “the sacred prang with three spires”, is the picture on almost every Lopburi postcard. Three tall towers stand in a row on a raised platform, linked by short passages. Much of the stucco that once covered them has fallen away, exposing the masonry beneath, but fragments of carved decoration survive around the doorways and lintels.

The chambers inside are small and dim, and hold damaged Buddha images from later centuries. A brick prayer hall in front of the towers was added by King Narai in the 17th century.

The shrine is also known for the long-tailed macaques that live around it and the nearby San Phra Kan shrine. Their numbers have fallen sharply since the town began trapping and sterilising them in 2024, but some still roam the site and will snatch food, bags and sunglasses. Do not feed them, and keep your belongings secured.

The shrine was built in the early 13th century, in the reign of the Khmer king Jayavarman VII, when Lopburi was a provincial centre of the Khmer Empire. It is often described as a Hindu shrine to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, but it was most likely a Mahayana Buddhist sanctuary, the faith Jayavarman championed. The three towers are thought to have honoured the Buddha in the centre, with the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara on one side and Prajnaparamita, the goddess of wisdom, on the other. After Khmer power faded the shrine passed into Theravada Buddhist use, and King Narai added to it during his long stays in Lopburi.