Muang Tam or " Temple of the Lower City" , is found 8km from Phanom Rung and was built on a smaller, more intimate scale. It is surrounded by colossal laterite walls pierced by four gopuras, at the four points of the compass. Three still retain their sculpted lintels. The carving of foliage and nagas across sandstone blocks shows that the structure was built before any carving was undertaken.
The naga here are stylistically different from those at Phanom Rung: they are smooth-headed rather than adorned with crowns, leading art historians to conclude that this prasat is earlier in date. Many regard these nagas as unparalleled in their beauty. Lotuses are carved on some of their chests, jewels stream for their mouths, garlands adorn them. Muang Tam had a wonderfully dilapidated air-sandstone bas-relief lintels lay scattered alongside unworked blocks of stones