Baan Hollanda บ้านฮอลันดา is a former Dutch trading village in Thailand, founded in 1643 during the Ayutthaya era. Located along the Chao Phraya river near the Ayutthaya Historical Park, to the south of the city island. It was established by the Dutch East India Company (VOC).
The term "Wilanda" was used by the Siamese in the past to mean those from the Netherlands, or the Dutch. It was derived from the Malay "Orang Belanda". It was used to denote the Dutch in Java and elsewhere in the East Indies. "Belanda" itself was possibly derived from the Portuguese "Hollanda" (Holland).
The Dutch first established formal trade relations with Siam in 1604, towards the end of King Naresuan’s reign. In 1608, King Ekathotsarot granted permission to the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to open its trading post in Ayutthaya.
The location was in the southern part of the walled island city and was a rather constricted space. In 1634, during the reign of King Prasat Thong, a new VOC ...
Wat Chantaburi, once known in local records as Wat Lao or Wat Yuan, stands on the western bank of the Pa Sak River in what was once the heart of old Saraburi, the original settlement that existed long predated the modern provincial town.
Although the temple received its formal name and wisungkhamasima boundary during the reign of King Chulalongkorn in the 1890s AD, its principal structure, the brick ubosot, dates from much earlier.
Construction of that ordination hall began around 1833 AD, in the reign of King Rama III, when families of Lao Yuan people (descendants of migrants forcibly relocated from the Vientiane region and the old kingdom of Lan Xang after the suppression of the Anouvong rebellion in 1828 AD) were resettled along the Pa Sak to cultivate rice and dig irrigation canals.
The ubosot is built entirely of small, dark-red handmade bricks laid in lime mortar and raised on a low laterite platform to guard against river floods. It displays the graceful sweeping rooflines and restrained ...
Prasat Ban Prasat, an 11th-century Khmer hospital temple (arokayasala) in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Thailand, stands as a rare surviving example of King Jayavarman VII’s compassionate infrastructure.
Built around 1186–1200 in classic Bayon style, the laterite complex features a single eastward-facing tower of pink sandstone on a raised platform, accompanied by a rectangular library to the southeast and enclosed by a moat, standard layout for the 102 chapels of healing the king established across his empire.
Dedicated to the Bodhisattva Lokesvara, the sanctuary originally housed a radiant Buddha image sheltered by the naga Mucalinda, symbolizing enlightenment and protection. A nearby reservoir (baray) supplied water for medicinal use, while the site served as both clinic and rest house for pilgrims traveling the ancient road from Angkor to Phimai. Inscriptions, though lost, likely mirrored those at other arokayasalas, invoking healing and royal merit.
Abandoned after the Khmer Empire’s ...
Sing Buri Province, 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 pride.
Wat Phra Non Chakkrasi Worawihan, a third-class royal temple perched along the ancient Chakra Sri River (now Khlong Bang Ton Pho) in central Sing Buri, embodies the province’s deep pre-Ayutthaya roots, predating the kingdom’s founding in 1351 CE and tying into legends of the lost city of Singh Puri, established around 1107 during the Dvaravati era (7th–11th centuries).
Originally known simply as Wat Phra Non, it was renamed to ...
