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.