Ensemble of Phanom Rung, Muang Tam and Plai Bat Sanctuaries and the Phimai Cultural Route: Comparative Study and Future Expectation in World Heritage Context

The removal of “Phimai, its Cultural Route and the Associated Temples of Phanomroong and Muangtam” from the the World Heritage Tentative List in 2019 indicates the change of focus of the Thailand State Party away from this emsemble originally included as components of the Phimai cultural route. This paper discusses the reasons behind this change, the values and ouv as well as advantages and disadvantages of these two proposals in the context of World Heritage nomination. It concludes that the proposal of the Ensemble of Phanom Rung was made after work on nominating the Phimai cultural route faced management obstacles and disputes between the responsible organization and local people, rather than on the values of the cultural route itself. As for the ensemble, the main concern is that this serial cultural heritage site still requires extensive study to justify the proposed criteria. Therefore, the Phimai cultural route, with its advantages in strong and verifiable values, may be reconsidered for World Heritage nomination when management issues are resolved.