Phnom Santuk

Phnom Santuk rises above the plain of central Cambodia, its wooded slopes crowned by Buddhist shrines. Figures of the Buddha have been carved into the mountain's great rocks, including reclining images representing his final passing into nirvana. A stupa on the hill is traditionally dated to the fifteenth century, and local accounts associate works at the site with the reign of King Ponhea Dharma Reacha. The sacred mountain became a place of pilgrimage in the centuries after Angkor.