The Royal Barges Museum houses eight of the 52 historic boats that form a procession on the water during very important official ceremonies. Their appearance on the water is now extremely rare, only 16 times in the last 65 years. They are all made of teak, beautifully carved and decorated. For lovers of Thai art and history, they are a must-see.
In the past, the Chao Phraya River and related canals were the main communication route of Bangkok, including for the royal family, who had a large fleet of boats. During the Burmese attack on Ayutthaya, all the kingdom’s boats were destroyed in a fire. King Rama I had new boats built resembling those that had been lost, but this time he decided that they would be used only for ceremonial purposes, including the Katin ceremony, which was held in October or November of each year and in which the royal family would sail down the river followed by a procession of boats.
During the civil and military governments that followed the 1932 coup, many of ...
Wat Sika Samut (วัดสีกาสมุด), also rendered as Wat Sika Samud, is a small ruined Buddhist temple located outside the historic city island of Ayutthaya in the eastern area. It sits just north of the more prominent restored ruin of Wat Maheyong.
The site occupies a raised mound enclosed by a moat, giving it the appearance of a small island. According to descriptions from the Fine Arts Department, this surrounding water served as an udaka sema (or utoka sima), a water boundary marking the sacred precinct for religious rites in the Lankawong Buddhist tradition, where water symbolizes purity and the enclosed space evokes Mount Meru rising from the cosmic ocean.
No contemporary historical documents record the temple’s founding or builder, so its origins remain obscure. Archaeological and architectural evidence places its construction in the Early Ayutthaya period, roughly between 1351 and 1488, contemporaneous with nearby Wat Maheyong.
The principal chedi shows stylistic links to ...
Chankasem or Front Palace National Museum Ayutthaya.
Chankasem Palace was built during the reign of King Maha Thammaraja, the 17th King of the Kingdom of Ayutthaya. During the reign of King Naresuan the Great the Palace became his permanent residence. Chankasem Palace, like the other palaces, was destroyed during the Burmese invasion. It has been renovated and reopened as a museum open to the public on Wednesdays through Sundays from 9.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.
Chankasem National museum, Chankasem Palace or Wang na is located in the northeast of Muang island which is near Hua Ro market. According to the historical record, Chankasem palace was built in King Dhamma Racha reign around 1577 in order to be the residence of King Naraesuan Maharacha and was the residence of King Yuparat and many kings.
When Ayutthaya was attacked and seized in 1767, the invaders burnt and destroyed this palace and left it abandonly. Until the reign of King Rama IV of the Rattanakosin dynasty, he commanded to repair of the throne ...
Wat Suan Luang Khangkhao, whose name translates as the Monastery of the Royal Garden of the Bat (or Flying Foxes), is a restored temple ruin located on Ayutthaya’s historic city island. It stands on the grounds of what is now Phranakhon Si Ayutthaya Rajabhat University and near the former course of Khlong Chakrai Noi, in the immediate vicinity of the ruins of Wat Borom Phuttharam and Wat Singharam.
The surrounding area once formed part of the royal residence and grounds associated with King Phetracha (reigned 1688–1703). It is generally accepted that the locality had earlier been a royal park or garden that sheltered large numbers of bats, which accounts for the temple’s distinctive name.
No definitive record survives of who founded the monastery or the precise year of its construction. Architectural evidence, however, points toward the late Ayutthaya period, possibly during or shortly after the reign of King Narai (1656–1688) or in the time of King Phetracha, not long after the nearby Wat ...
