Sakon Nakhon, in northeast Thailand, was a major city in the Khmer empire of Khotraboon, which had its capital at nearby Srikhotraboon (in modern Udon Thani province). It was at its height from the 12th to the 16th centuries. Phra That Choeng Chum, originally a much smaller 10th-century Khmer monastery, was visited by four incarnations of the Buddha (Phra Kakusantha, Phra Konakom, Phra Kassapa, and the present Buddha, Phra Kodom or Phra Sri Ariyametrei) who pressed their footprints in the soil. A slender, 24-meter Lao-style brick tower shaped in the form of an angled lotus bud was built over the spot of the Buddha footprints in the 17th century, and the temple derives its name from that chedi. It is believed that the fifth, yet-to-come Buddha, will also come to press his footprint into the soil at this spot. Opposite the entrance is the Luang Phor Phra Ong Saen Buddha, cast in the Chiang Saen style in 1257.
Sakon Nakhon, in northeast Thailand, was a major city in the Khmer empire of Khotraboon, which had its capital at nearby Srikhotraboon (in modern Udon Thani province). It was at its height from the 12th to the 16th centuries. Phra That Choeng Chum, originally a much smaller 10th-century Khmer monastery, was visited by four incarnations of the Buddha (Phra Kakusantha, Phra Konakom, Phra Kassapa, and the present Buddha, Phra Kodom or Phra Sri Ariyametrei) who pressed their footprints in the soil. A slender, 24-meter Lao-style brick tower shaped in the form of an angled lotus bud was built over the spot of the Buddha footprints in the 17th century, and the temple derives its name from that chedi. It is believed that the fifth, yet-to-come Buddha, will also come to press his footprint into the soil at this spot. Opposite the entrance is the Luang Phor Phra Ong Saen Buddha, cast in the Chiang Saen style in 1257.
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