Yoke thé ရုပ်သေ (literal translation is "miniatures" ) is the Burmese name for marionette puppetry. Like most of Burmese refined art, yoke thé performances originated from royal patronage and were gradually adapted for the wider populace. Yoke thé are almost always performed in the form of Burmese operas.
Burmese marionettes are very intricate and their use requires dexterous skills, as they employ 18 or 19 wires for male and female characters respectively, and each puppet is controlled by only one puppeteer.
The probable date of the origin of Burmese marionettes is given as around 1780, during the reign of Singu Min, and their introduction is credited to the Minister of Royal Entertainment, U Thaw. From their inception, marionettes enjoyed great popularity in the courts of the Konbaung dynasty. Little has changed since the creation of the art by U Thaw, and the set of characters developed by him is still in use today. Until the conquest of Upper Burma by the British in late ...
Wat Ket วัดเกษ, sometimes rendered or misheard as Wat Let, stands as a quiet restored ruin on Ayutthaya’s city island within the Historical Park, at the junction of what were once Pa Thon and Si Sanphet roads in the old Pratu Chai district.
In the days of the Ayutthaya kingdom this modest monastery occupied a strategically grim corner of the capital, positioned close to the original city jail and the great drum tower known as the Ho Klong. The temple itself was linked to the guardian spirit Jao Ket, the protective spirit of that tower, a structure from which officials beat drums to warn the populace of fire or other sudden danger. Traditional accounts even speak of foundation sacrifices connected with such important civic buildings.
Architecturally the site is modest yet distinctive. Its principal surviving feature is a bell-shaped chedi of unusual pyramidal form executed in the Sukhothai style, the only example of its kind among Ayutthaya’s many temple ruins.
Foundations of an ...
The royal palace, known as the Khocha Prawet Maha Prasat, also referred to as the Phaniat Palace or Tamnak Phaniat. It was one of the five principal royal residences located outside the walls of Ayutthaya. According to the Royal Chronicles, King Narai ordered its construction in 1657 specifically to serve as a vantage point and ceremonial hall for events at the nearby elephant grounds.
It stood on a raised mound overlooking the enclosure so that the king and his court could observe the trapping ceremonies in comfort.
The building was looted and burned by Burmese forces during the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767. In the early Bangkok period a simpler residence rose on the same foundations.
The present L-shaped two-story brick building, designed in a Western style with wooden floors, a tiled roof, balconies, and a basement, dates from the late nineteenth century and was restored by the Fine Arts Department in 1999.
The Elephant Kraal itself, known in Thai as Phaniat Khlong Chang, stands about four kilometers ...
Wat Sala Pun, also known as Wat Sala Pun Worawihan or the Monastery of the Pavilion of Lime, is an active second class royal temple located off the city island in the northwestern area of Ayutthaya. It sits on the north bank of Khlong Mueang, the former course of the Lopburi River, near Wat Phanom Yong and Wat Phrom Niwat.
The name derives from the nearby Ban Sala Pun village, where residents once operated furnaces to produce and sell red lime, and the temple served as the religious center of that community, which also featured a local market.
The exact date of construction and the identity of its founder remain unknown, though it dates to the Ayutthaya period, likely the middle or late era. The site appears on historical maps, including Phraya Boran Rachathanin’s map of 1926.
After the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767 the temple fell into disuse and became abandoned. It was restored in the early Rattanakosin period, with major renovation recorded around 1812–1816 during the reign of King Rama II, when ...
