Wat Suthat

Wat Suthat, adjacent to the Great Swing, is one of the oldest and most beautiful of Bangkok's Buddhist temples. Three kings had a hand in its construction: it was begun soon after his coronation in 1782 by Rama I, founder of the Chakri dynasty, continued by Rama II, and completed, ten years later by Rama III. Apart from its delightful architecture the temple boasts some exceptionally interesting wall paintings. The compound as a whole covers an area of 4.08 ha (10 acres). It is rectangular in plan (being roughly half as long again as it is wide) with a perimeter wall 949 m (3114 ft) in length. The area is divided between the temple complex itself and the monk's living quarters.

Wat Pho

Situated immediately south of the Grand Palace precinct, Wat Pho (or Wat Chetuphon), built by King Rama I, is the oldest and also the largest temple in Bangkok. In the 16th c. the site is said to have been occupied by a small residence belonging to a prince of Ayutthaya, with a wat called the "Temple of the Sacred Bhodi-Tree" (hence "pho", i.e. bhodi).

Wat Pho was renowned as a place of healing even in the olden days and famous for its pharmacy

Wat Benchama-bo-bitr

Benchama-bo-bitr, popularly called the Marble Temple, is one of the loveliest wats in Bangkok. It was erected in about 1899 by King Rama V (Chulalongkorn), the snow-white marble being shipped to Thailand from Tuscany in Italy. Thais also refer to the wat as "The Wat of the Fifth King", Rama V, crowned soon after his 20th birthday, having spent part of 1873 as a "bikkhu" (monk) in the old monastery south of the temple.
Most unusually the compound is entered neither through a gate in a wall nor a wiharn, being separated from the street only by ornamental railings and an expanse of lawn. The boundary on the south side, between the temple and the monks' quarters, is also unusual, taking the form of a moat.

Wat Benchama-bo-bitr in Bangkok

Benchama-bo-bitr, popularly called the Marble Temple, is one of the loveliest wats in Bangkok. It was erected in about 1899 by King Rama V (Chulalongkorn), the snow-white marble being shipped to Thailand from Tuscany in Italy. Thais also refer to the wat as "The Wat of the Fifth King", Rama V, crowned soon after his 20th birthday, having spent part of 1873 as a "bikkhu" (monk) in the old monastery south of the temple.

Wat Arun in Bangkok

When, having fallen to the Burmese, Ayutthaya was reduced to rubble and ashes, General Taksin and the remaining survivors vowed to march "until the sun rose again", and there to build a temple. Wat Arun, the Temple of the Dawn, stands on the spot to which they came and where later the new king built his royal palace and with it a private chapel.

The wat, with its 79-m (259-ft) high central prang surrounded by four smaller ones, has become a

Vimarnmek Palace

Open once again to visitors following major restoration, Vimarnmek Palace is located at the rear of the park which surrounds the National Assembly (west of Dusit Zoo).

The four-story teak building houses the extensive royal art collection of furniture, paintings, jewelry, much of it acquired by King Rama V.

National Museum / Wang Na Palace

Bangkok's National Museum provides a splendidly comprehensive introduction to the history of Thailand, at least half a day being required to do it anything like justice. The extraordinary size of the collection is explained by the fact that, until the mid seventies, this was Thailand's only museum.

Since then the Thai Department of Fine Arts has established additional branches throughout the country. The Department's policy is for archaeological and art historic finds to be put on display as near as possible to their place of origin, so there are plans for even more museums in the future.

An excellent catalogue is available at the entrance. There are guided tours in English and virtually all

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exhibits are labeled in English as well as in Thai.

The old Wang Na Palace built by Rama I remains essentially as it was, as does the original nucleus of the collection made up of King Chulalongkorn's bequest and household effects from Wang Na: regalia, religious and ceremonial artifacts, ceramics, games, weaponry, musical instruments and the Viceroy's throne.

The older buildings in the museum contain some particularly interesting exhibits. They include a collection of presentation gifts to the king, a collection of curiosities, the royal barges and state coaches and hearses, etc. Principal attraction in the new wings is the fine collection of Buddha figures, arranged according to period.

Jim Thompson's Houses

The story of the American-born James ("Jim") Thompson reads like an adventure novel. Having made Thai silk famous throughout the world he suddenly disappeared without trace, at the peak of his business career, in 1967 while taking a short break in Malaysia.

The extraordinarily beautiful old Thai houses that Thompson found near Ayutthaya and brought by river to Bangkok have not vanished however. Now owned by a charitable trust, they are used to display the splendid art collection the American had built up. All the proceeds of admission go to various charitable institutions in Thailand.

The seven wooden houses - which every visitor should try to see - are now almost unique in the country

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and contain treasures representing every period of Thai art. They are picturesquely situated in Soi Kasem San, in a pretty garden by the side of a klong on the opposite bank of which the silk weavers once worked.

Once inside, the cultured taste of the former owner is everywhere apparent. As well as old pictures in Thai silk, and Buddha figures from nearly every major epoch, there are numerous everyday items and many other works of art. Note in particular the sideboard, once part of a Chinese altar, and the miniature palace which children of some rich family would have used for keeping pets. A Buddhist by conviction, Jim Thompson moved into his house only when temple astrologers deemed the moment auspicious. Even so, he was granted but a short time in it. Just seven years later he left Bangkok never to return.

Grand Palace

The tour of Bangkok's Grand Palace and the sight of the Holy of Holies within - the Jade Buddha (also known as the Emerald Buddha) in Wat Phra Kaeo - are among the highlights of any visit to Thailand. Each of the buildings making up the 21.84-ha (54-acre) palace complex evinces not only the ethos of a period but, above all, the spirit of the monarch ruling at the time.

The whole of the holy precinct still preserves the pure undefiled style deriving from the time of its inception, notwithstanding many alterations and refurbishments - the last of these in 1984. When undertaking this restoration work, which has largely been carried out by students of the Bangkok Academy of Art, the utmost emphasis has been placed

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on being true to the original details, notably regarding the extensive murals which have been adversely affected over the passing of the years, not least by the high levels of air pollution to be found in Bangkok.

The palace is entered via the main or Wiseedtschairi Gate ("Gate of Wonderful Victory"), beyond which a wide roadway leads through the outer courtyard. On either side are modern buildings housing government offices. Anyone whose mode of dress is considered improper by the guards on duty will be asked to don a sarong, issued free of charge (although on production of some form of security, such as one's passport).

After obtaining an entrance ticket (the ticket office is at the start of the access roadway to the actual palace precinct), the visitor goes past a building standing slightly back, in which the Museum of Royal Regalia and Coins is housed. On display on the first floor are carved wooden furniture and interior furnishings of considerable interest (extra admission charge).

Wat Yai Chai Mongkol

On the eastern outskirts of Ayutthaya (cross the Pasak River and take the Bangkok road, turning right about 300 m (990 ft) beyond the railway) stands the exceptionally interesting Wat Yai Chai Mongkol, its massive chedi rising from a square base surrounded by four smaller chedis. The wat, built in 1357 under King U Thong, was assigned to monks of a particularly strict order trained in Ceylon, members of which still live there. In front of the chedi are the stumps of columns which once supported the roof of the temple.

Wat Ratchaburana

Wat Ratchaburana was erected by King Boromracha II (1424-48) in memory of his elder brothers Ay and Yi, killed in a duel over the succession to the throne. Columns and walls of the wiharn still stand, as do some ruined chedis around the prang and also parts of the surrounding walls complete with lancet gateways. The large prang with its fine figured stucco, portraying nagas supporting garudas, is exceptionally well preserved.

The two crypts in the lower part of the prang contain some exceedingly interesting wall paintings, probably the work of Chinese artists who settled in Ayutthaya and had the skill to harmonize such different styles as those of the Khmer and Burmese on the one hand and of Lopburi and Sukhothai on the other

While excavating in the prang between 1956 and 1958 archaeologists discovered more than 100,000 votive tablets, known in Thai as "phra phim". These were later sold and the proceeds used to build the Chao Sam Phraya National Museum. Such tablets, generally molded in clay, were carried by pilgrims and usually bore pictures of holy places or simply of the Buddha. Various works of art were also uncovered in the prang; these included arm-bands with intaglio decoration, gold filigree headdresses and one in solid gold inlaid with precious stones, a five-part service used for betel nuts, two spittoons, and gold coins with Arabic lettering. Most of the finds are on display in the Chandra Kasem National Museum.

The prang itself is also of historical interest in that it combines the Indian (Ceylonese) and Burmese styles, merging them into a novel architectural form. Some of the stucco work at the top is well preserved. The square platform had a small chedi at each corner. Two more chedis at the crossroads house the ashes of the royal brothers while a third commemorates Queen Si Suriyothai who, during a battle with the Burmese in about 1550, dressed as a man and rode into the fray on a white elephant to save her husband's life, losing her own in the process. Near this chedi, on the site of the now completely destroyed Wat Lokaya Sutha, a giant reclining figure of the Buddha can be seen.

Wat Phra Si Sanphet

Wat Phra Si Sanphet is the loveliest and historically most important temple in old Ayutthaya. Its three large chedis and numerous smaller ones on a long terrace make this wat - also known as the King's Temple - one of the most impressive sights in the ruined city.

Two of the large chedis, the eastern and central ones, were built in 1492 by King Rama Thibodi II to house the ashes of his father and elder brother. His own ashes are interred in the third chedi, built in 1530 by his son and successor on the throne, King Boromaraja IV. All three chedis were opened up and plundered by the Burmese who nevertheless failed to find the hundreds of small statues of the Buddha in bronze, crystal, silver, lead and gold now on display in the

National Museum in Bangkok. The building on the west side of the terrace, once crowned by a chedi, has numerous entrances with small prangs. Like the smaller chedis and chapels around it these probably contain the ashes of other members of the royal family. Between the chedis are what were presumably mondhops while in front of the terrace, roughly in the center of the temple compound, are pillars and walls, the remains of the great wiharn which once housed a 16-m (52-ft) high figure of Buddha encased in gold. The statue itself, damaged and stripped of its gold by the Burmese, was removed by King Rama I to one of the large chedis of Wat Pho in Bangkok. Other smaller Buddha figures were also taken to the capital to be placed in Wat Buddhaisawan (now part of the National Museum in Bangkok) and the western wiharn of Wat Pho.

Leaving the Royal Wat - note the memorial to King U Thong opposite - take the turning on the left to Wang Luang palace, also sometimes referred to as "the Old Palace" to distinguish it from the Chandra Kasem Palace which was built later. A third palace, Klang Suan Luang, once stood close to the city's western wall in the vicinity of Queen Suriyochai's chedi. Of this latter palace nothing now remains.

The walls of Wang Luang extend right up to the Lopburi River. Apart from these and the well-restored foundations, there is little to be seen, the Burmese having been very thorough in their destruction of this part of Ayutthaya. For the same reason little survives from the once numerous old Thai houses. Even so a fairly good idea of the original extent of the palace complex, which also incorporated Wat Si Sanphet, can be obtained. Perhaps the best way to visualize this section of the old city is to compare it to the Great Palace in Bangkok which was actually modeled on Ayutthaya's Wang Luang though built in different styles. The oldest building in the complex was erected by U Thong in 1350, the year in which Ayutthaya became his new capital.

Wat Mahathat

Immediately across the road from Wat Ratchaburana stands Wat Mahathat which tradition claims was erected in 1384 by King Ramesuen. He is also said to have built the central prang to house a relic of the Buddha. This however is considered doubtful; according to a more reliable source the first buildings on the site, including the above-mentioned prang, were actually constructed by King Boromaraja I (1370-88). The prang, 46 m (150 ft) high, is one of the old city's most impressive edifices. In about 1625 the top portion broke off, being rebuilt in 1633 some 4 m (13 ft) higher than before. Later it collapsed again and only the corners survived. In 1956 a secret chamber was uncovered in the ruins; among the treasures found inside were gold

jewelry, a gold casket containing a relic of the Buddha, and fine tableware. Scattered around the temple are some important remains of variously shaped prangs and chedis, in particular an octagonal chedi with a truncated spire in the Ceylonese style. Near by, the head of a still much revered statue of the Buddha lies on the ground.

Chao Sam Phraya National Museum

Further along on the right, past the Ayutthaya provincial government offices, the Chao Sam Phraya National Museum was founded by King Bhumibol in 1961. It houses some valuable and interesting items in the Lopburi, U Thong, Ayutthaya, Dvaravati and Sukhothai styles including finds from Ayutthaya, sculptures in bronze and stone, terracotta and lacquer work, ceramics, wood-carvings, votive panels and gold jewelry set with precious stones. Outstanding among the many earlier works of art are a seated Buddha (Dvaravati, 11-12th. c.) and a huge bust of the Buddha in the U Thong style.

Chitralada Palace

Once King Chulalongkorn's summer residence, Chitralada Palace stands in about 1 sq. km (247 acres) of grounds incorporating several artificial lakes. At each corner of the park is a fountain adorned with Late Baroque figures drawn from mythology, evidence of the cultivated taste of Thailand's rulers.

Chitralada is hardly a typical royal residence; visitors, were they to be granted access, would be reminded more of an agricultural research station. The palace indeed doubles as a sort of experimental farm, aimed primarily at boosting the income of rice growers in the north by providing fish stock. The royal fish ponds are therefore much more than just a hobby. There is also a beef-rearing unit and an

experimental dairy.

As befits their status, the famous royal "white elephants" also have their quarters at the palace, where they are taken after first spending some time in Dusit Zoo. King Bhumibol now owns more albino elephants than any of his predecessors; never before have so many been presented to a monarch in the course of his reign.

The moat around the grounds made headlines during the unrest in 1973 when student demonstrators sought, and found, refuge inside the palace railings.

Khun Phaen House

Khun Phaen House is built on an artificial island where a prison once stood. The traditional Thai house, one of the very few remaining, was constructed in 1940 from material salvaged from other old dwellings. It is not unlike Jim Thompson's House in Bangkok.

Banyong Ratanat Building

Further along on the right, past the Ayutthaya provincial government offices, the Chao Sam Phraya National Museum was founded by King Bhumibol in 1961. It houses some valuable and interesting items in the Lopburi, U Thong, Ayutthaya, Dvaravati and Sukhothai styles including finds from Ayutthaya, sculptures in bronze and stone, terracotta and lacquer work, ceramics, wood-carvings, votive panels and gold jewelry set with precious stones. Outstanding among the many earlier works of art are a seated Buddha (Dvaravati, 11-12th. c.) and a huge bust of the Buddha in the U Thong style.

Wat Sra Si

Located west of the King Ramkhamhaeng monument and situated on two connected islands, this wat is particularly beautiful and can be noted for its simplicity. A large and beautiful walking Buddha in Sukhothai style dominates the site along with one chedi in Sir Lankan style.

Wat Phra Borommahathat Doi Suthep

Wat Phra Borommahathat Doi Suthep was built in 1383 by King Gue-Na on a plateau commanding an impressive view of the city of Chiang Mai, Thailand's northern capital. The temple contains a pogada that houses a part of the holy relics of the Lord Buddha. Bhuddists from around the world come here to pay worship to the holy temple.

Wat Phra Si Sanphet in Ayutthaya

This is the most important temple within the Royal Palace compound (similar to the importance of The Emerald Buddha Temple in Bangkok's Grand Palace). In 1500 a 16-meters high standing Buddha was cast by King Ramathipodi II. The image was covered with gold weighing some 170 kilogrammes. In 1767, the burmese set fire to the 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. These were renovated in 1956.