The ruin city of Ayutthaya

The ruined city of Ayutthaya is a must for visitors. It is a haunting place with the elegiac splendour of ruins and shattered images, and it is easy to imagine the original island city of the moats, places, and grand temples with rows of Buddhas with enigmatic stone smiles?" whose pagodas were the object of so much laudation from ancient travellers and which was called the Oriental Venice, from the abundance of its canals and temples whelmed in the dust with rank vegetation", as wrote an awestruck early visitor. Ayutthaya is 72 kilometres north of Bangkok and accessible by road, train, or special river trip.

The modern town of Ayutthaya sits in the Phra Nakon Si Ayutthaya historical Park, a vast stretch of historical sites which has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage since December 13, 1991.

Wat Pra Si Sanphet is the most important temple within the Royal Palace compound and corresponds to the Emerald Buddha Temple in Bangkok. In the year 1500, a 16-metre high standing Buddha was cast by King Ramathipodi II. The image was covered with gold and weighed some 170 kilometres. In 1767, the Burmese set fire to image to melt off the gold completely destroying the image and the temple. Nearby are three Ceylonese-style chedis built during the 15th century to enshrine the ashes of three Ayutthayan kings. There were renovated in 1956.

Chedi Phu Khao Thong, comonly known as Golden Mount Pagoda, stands some 80 metres high on Ayutthaya's northern outskirts. Purportedly, this pagoda was originally built in Mon style by King Burengnong of Burma to commemorate Burmese victory during the 1569 invasion of Ayutthaya's independence was restored by King Naresuan in 1584, the pagoda was remodelled in Thai style. It was as important shrine; as a visitor commented to Bowring in 1855- "There is one sacred spire of immense height and size which is still kept in some kind of repair, and which is sometimes visited by the king. It is situated about four miles from the town in the centre of a plain of paddy-field. Boats and elephants are the only means of reaching it, as there is no road whatever except such as the creeks and swampy paddy-fields afford "The golden Mount at Wat Sraket in Bangkokwas built as a replica. In 1956, the government placed a golden ball weighing 2,500 grammes on top of pagoda to celebrate 25 centuries of the Buddhist religion.

Wat Yai chai Mongkhon, also called Wat Chao Phraya Thai, is located just outside Ayutthaya town. It was built by King U-Thong in 1357 for meditation. In 1592, when King Naresuan defeated Burmese by killing the Burmese Crown Prince in single-handed combat on elephant back, he constructed the temple's large pagoda to macth the high pagoda at Chedi Phu Khao Thong which had purportedly been built by the Burmese. This massive pagoda, still in ruins, is visible from a great distance.

Wat Chaiwatthanaram is located on the bank of the Chao Phraya river to the west of the city island. It was built by the royal command of King Prasat Thong. The existing main Prang and pagodas around the corners are still in good condition.

Phra Thinang Aisawan Thippa-at is a delightful Thai style castle pavilion standing in the middle of the lake. It replaced a former building of the same name erected by King Prasat Thong.