A few miles down the Chao Phraya River from Ayutthaya is the Bang Pa-In Summer Palace.
The site was first used by the royal court
as a summer retreat in the 17th century. The Palace was destroyed with the fall of the Kingdom of Ayutthaya and was restored by King Rama IV in the mid-19th century. Most of the buildings that exist today date from the
reign of King Rama V, who regularly spent his
summers there. The structures represent a variety of architectural styles, set in a large park around ponds and waterways.
Bang Pa-In Royal Palace พระราชวังบางปะอิน, also known as the Summer Palace, is a palace complex formerly used by the Thai kings.
King Prasat Thong constructed the original complex in 1632, but it fell into disuse and became overgrown in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was unused until King Mongkut began to restore the site in the mid-19th century. Most of the present buildings were constructed between 1872 and 1889 by King ...
Wat Makham Phlong วัดมะขามโพลง is a mid-19th-century riverside monastery on the Pa Sak River in Tha Ruea District, Ayutthaya Province, founded in 1882 (BE 2425) to serve local farming and trading communities.
It received royal consecration of its sima boundaries in 1957 (BE 2500), marking its formal elevation as a parish temple under the Mahanikaya sect.
Local lore credits its enduring vitality to protective Unalom inscriptions, believed to channel the Buddha’s ushnisha curl for path-clearing and prosperity—drawing devotees for prayers on career, fortune, and karmic release.
Excavations in the 1970s by the Fine Arts Department authenticated its Ayutthaya-style elements, though the site blends ancient motifs with 20th-century additions, symbolizing continuity from Siamese resilience to modern Thai Buddhism.
The name “Temple of the Long-Pod Tamarind” derives from the ancient makham phlong trees shading the grounds, their elongated pods evoking life’s jointed paths in ...
Sing Buri Province, cradled by the life-giving Chao Phraya and Lopburi Rivers, emerged from ancient Mon-Khmer roots in the Dvaravati era and rose to prominence as a fortified riverside settlement under the Ayutthaya Kingdom. Its name—City of the Lion—stems from a founding legend: a celestial lion spirit descended to protect the land, uniting with a mortal woman to sire Singhapahu, the mythical ancestor whose courage defined the region’s identity.
Wat Phra Prang Muni, established in the late Ayutthaya period over three centuries ago, stands as one of Sing Buri’s most luminous historical treasures. Its defining feature is the elegant Khmer-style prang, a tall, corn-shaped stupa of precise square tiers, adorned with intricate stucco motifs of garudas, nagas, and floral vines—restored in recent decades with shimmering gold leaf that transforms it into a golden spire under the sun.
At the temple’s spiritual heart resides Luang Pho Yen, a graceful stucco image in the Māravijaya ...
Sing Buri Province, nestled along the fertile banks of the Chao Phraya River in central Thailand, traces its origins to the ancient Mon-Khmer settlements that flourished during the Dvaravati period, later flourishing under the Ayutthaya Kingdom as a strategic riverine outpost. The name “Sing Buri” itself derives from local folklore: a mythical lion (singha) spirit is said to have guarded the area, mating with a human woman and fathering a child named Singhapahu, whose lineage symbolically founded the city. This blend of myth and history infuses the region with a quiet pride, evident in its preserved temples, riverside way of life, and enduring agricultural rhythms.
Among these sacred sites stands Wat Prachoti Karam, a serene Ayutthaya-era temple in the Don Kratay area of Bang Krabue Subdistrict, revered for its deep spiritual resonance and architectural grace.
Believed to have been established over four centuries ago, the temple embodies the transitional artistry between Sukhothai and ...
