Page 37 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Bangkok

Ayutthaya ❮❮ 35

Chao Sam Phraya
5 A SHORT HISTORY
National Museum
Most of Ayutthaya’s pre cious OF AYUTTHAYA
artifacts, including gold Ayutthaya was founded
Buddha images, were either by King Ramathibodi I
taken by the invading Burmese in 1350. Over the next
or looters. A few remaining four centuries, the
items are on show here (right). king dom came to
dominate the region
Wat Phra Si Sanphet
6 now known as Thailand,
apart from in the north
Once Ayutthaya’s most glorious temple,
all that is left of Wat Phra Si Sanphet (below) (where the Kingdom of
Lanna maintained its
today, are three Sri Lankan-style chedis indepen dence). Traders
alongside the ruins of the royal palace. from Europe returned
The chedis con tain ashes of Ayutthayan home with tales of a
kings and are the park’s highlight. highly organized and
sophisticated society.
The kingdom’s end
was as sudden as its
beginning, and its
capital was completely
abandoned after
being sacked by the
Burmese in 1767.
Wat
0
Ratchaburuna
Next door to Wat Phra
Mahathat, this temple
was built in 1424 by King
Borommaracha II, and
its main structure is a
Khmer-style prang. In
6 2 0 Wang
8 8 1957, the crypt beneath
Luang
9 UTHONG Constructed in the the prang was opened by
robbers, who made off
1 NARESUAN CHEEKUN 15th century by King with a horde of gold
Borommatrailokanat
artifacts. The few items
Chao Phraya UTHONG KHILONG T HO K H I L O N G T H O SI SANPHET PATONE ROTCHANA stable space for over they did not take are now
(see p37), this royal
on display in the Chao
palace had enough
Chao Phraya
Sam Phraya National
U T H O N G 4 100 elephants. It was Museum. The crypt can
3 razed to the ground by be reached by a steep
5 the Burmese and only the staircase, where there
7
Map of Ayutthaya foundations remain. are beautiful frescoes.
Wat Lokaya Sutharam
Wat Phra Ram
7 9
The highlight of this temple is a huge, white-
Wat Phra Ram is
one of Ayutthaya’s oldest washed Reclining Buddha (below), exposed to the
tem ples. Originally built elements. Pillars around it once
in 1369, the main prang, supported a wooden hall that
decorated with Buddha shel tered the image.
images and mythical
creatures like nagas
and garudas (see p15),
was added during the
15th century.
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