Wat Ratchaburana, Ayutthaya
A 1424 temple with a climbable prang and a crypt holding some of Thailand's oldest surviving murals.
Wat Ratchaburana, Ayutthaya
Wat Ratchaburana was founded in 1424 by King Borommarachathirat II on the cremation site of his two elder brothers, who had killed each other in a duel on elephant-back over the succession. Its central prang is one of the better-preserved in Ayutthaya.
The prang can be climbed, by a steep and narrow stair, down into the crypt - which is the reason to come. The chamber walls carry painted murals from the fifteenth century, among the oldest surviving in Thailand. A hoard of gold regalia and votive objects was recovered from the crypt in 1957 after looters broke in, and is now in the Chao Sam Phraya National Museum nearby.
The temple faces Wat Mahathat across the road, so the two are always seen together. The crypt stair is tight, low and unsuitable for anyone uneasy in confined spaces.
- Wat Chaiwatthanaram, Ayutthaya — The riverside temple of 1630, built to a Khmer plan and the most complete ruin in Ayutthaya.
- Wat Lokayasutharam, Ayutthaya — The great reclining Buddha of Ayutthaya, lying in the open on the west side of the island.
- Wat Mahathat, Ayutthaya — The temple of the Buddha head held in the roots of a banyan tree - the single most photographed image in Ayutthaya.
- Wat Phra Si Sanphet, Ayutthaya — The royal temple of the Ayutthaya palace, and its three restored chedis.
- Ayutthaya Historical Park — The UNESCO World Heritage remains of Thailand's second capital, on an island between three rivers.
- Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon, Ayutthaya — A working monastery outside the old city, with a great chedi and a courtyard of saffron-robed Buddhas.
