The road linking Khorat and Phimai has been of great importance for many centuries: a former royal road, it was created in the 12C to provide access to Angkor, the prestigious capital of the Khmer Empire. What is less well known is that the main sanctuary at Angkor Wat took as its model an older temple - that of Phimai, at the time the most important in Thailand. Nowadays nestled in the heart of a tranquil small town, this jewel of Khmer architecture, which was admirably restored in the 1960s, is one of the finest examples of buildings from the classical period.