Wat Pho (Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimonmangkhararam Rajwaramahawihan), located in Bangkok, Thailand, is one of the city’s oldest and most revered temples.
• Origins (16th Century): The temple’s history traces back to the Ayutthaya period, with evidence suggesting it existed before Bangkok became the capital in 1782. It was initially a modest temple named Wat Photharam.
• Reconstruction (1782–1809): After establishing Bangkok as the capital, King Rama I rebuilt and expanded the temple, renaming it Wat Phra Chetuphon. This marked its rise as a major royal temple, housing sacred relics and Buddha images.
• Major Expansion (1824–1851): Under King Rama III, Wat Pho underwent significant renovations, including the construction of the iconic 46-meter-long Reclining Buddha statue, symbolizing the Buddha’s entry into Nirvana. The temple was further developed as a center for traditional Thai knowledge, earning the title “Thailand’s first university.”
• Cultural Legacy: Wat Pho became ...
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No contemporary historical documents record the temple’s founding or builder, so its origins remain obscure.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 ...
