*WS 80: the old temples in the Historical Park, Ayutthaya, Thailand*
The city of Ayutthaya, 64 km north of Bangkok, is a former capital of the Ayutthaya Kingdom which ruled most of present-day Thailand from 1351 to 1767. The Ayutthaya Historical Park is a designated area covering most of the ruins of the old city of Ayutthaya. Part of the park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were here in 2019 with a group of CLHS classmates, and we visited 2 of the temple complexes within the Historical Park.
The 1st one visited is Wat Chaiwatthanaram (1st 4 photos) built in 1630 by the reigning king. It has a 35-meter high central prang in Khmer style surrounded with four smaller prangs. The central platform is further protected by 8 inter-connected stupas. 1st photo shows part of the layout, and the 2nd photo shows the main prang and a smaller prang.
The 2nd one is Wat Phra Si Sanphet (last 4 photos) which is the temple of the royal family. The site originally housed the 1st edition of the palace, completed in 1351. In 1448 a new palace was built at another location and the old palace was turned into a royal religious ground. The most famous structure here was a 16 m height gold-covered Buddha statue but it was plundered when the city fell to the Burmese in 1767. The most important buildings still remaining are 3 stupas (or chedis) each containing the ashes of certain kings or royalties. The 5th photo shows 2 of 3 the stupas.
Interesting blog, it reminds me of Wat Arun in Bangkok, called Temple of Dawn as the first light of the morning reflects off the surface of the temple on the Chao Phraya river creates a wonderful cinematic vision.
ReplyDeleteI tried to make a blog about Wat Arun, hope you also like it: https://stenote.blogspot.com/2020/07/bangkok-at-wat-arun.html