The tower attracts young people to take extremely impressive 'virtual life' photos.

As a temple with outstanding architecture in Soc Trang province, Som Rong Pagoda is currently attracting many Buddhists and tourists from near and far to come to worship and visit.

Botum Vong Sa Som Rong Pagoda, also known as Som Rong Pagoda, is located in Hamlet 2, Ward 5, Soc Trang. Som Rong Pagoda has existed for a long time, first built with bamboo, wood and simple thatched roof. Surrounded by many Som Rong trees that grow and develop by themselves, the pagoda took the name of the Som Rong tree, which has flowers called Botum, to name the pagoda.

The unique feature of the tower is the paint color. Instead of the traditional yellow color, the tower is painted gray, giving it a modern yet majestic and ancient look like monolithic stone architecture. Photo: Thanh Tien.

After that, the pagoda was restored many times with the overall architecture including the main hall, sala, hermitage, library, towers for the ashes of the deceased...

Som Rong Pagoda was first built on the land across the street. According to the remaining documents, Buddhists donated this land so the monks and local Buddhists agreed to move here. The first pagoda was also built with simple wood and leaves.

In 2000, the new main hall of the pagoda was inaugurated with solid materials but with a rather simple architecture. In 2013, through advocacy, Venerable Ly Duc rebuilt the current sala building and some new architectural blocks to make the three-storey building more solemn. The construction took 4 years, and on January 31, 2017, the sala of Som Rong pagoda was officially inaugurated.

This architecture is Khmer, but the temple combines both tradition and modernity, and especially the color scheme, so that Buddhists who donated money to build it feel satisfied because the temple has such unique highlights.

The temple gate is built very uniquely with many patterns.

The temple gate is built in the style of a three-door gate. Above the gate are five towers, symbolizing Mount Meru (also known as Mount Tu-di). The gate is embossed with reliefs with many Khmer cultural symbols such as the Naga snake god, the Krud bird god, traditional patterns... covered in gold, combined with a little light pink. The road from the gate to the temple is covered with the shade of ancient star trees, majestic architectural blocks, with many colorful colors imbued with traditional Khmer culture appear.

The temple has a fairly large stupa, on top of which is a statue of Buddha meditating. In addition, in the grounds there is also a very large reclining Buddha statue.

The main hall is the main place to worship Buddha in the architectural works of the pagoda. The entire main hall is supported by 6 rows of pillars, with the roof having a rather special structure consisting of 3 roof systems overlapping each other at a certain distance.

Som Rong Pagoda is built in the same architectural style as Southern Khmer pagodas.

Each corner of the roof is decorated with the image of a Khmer dragon. The roof adjacent to the columns is decorated with the image of the goddess Keynor and the Krud bird, which not only contributes to the solidity and strength of the columns supporting the massive roof, but also contributes to increasing the beauty and majesty of the building.

On both sides of the entrance to the main hall are fierce unicorns, standing guard at the door to prevent evil and protect the Buddha. On the walls and ceiling of the main hall are frescoes depicting the life of Buddha Shakyamuni. The altar in the main hall worships many statues of Buddha Shakyamuni.

The stupa is a place that attracts many young people to take virtual photos.

In the temple there is a very large reclining Buddha statue.

Nowadays, the pagoda is a destination for many tourists when coming to Soc Trang.

(According to 24h, October 2, 2023)

Source: https://baovinhphuc.com.vn/Multimedia/Images/Id/100099/Toa-bao-thap-thu-hut-gioi-tre-den-song-ao-cuc-ky-an-tuong