Wat Chaiwatthanaram Audio Guide

Wat Chaiwatthanaram: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Wat Chaiwatthanaram

   Welcome to Wat Chaiwatthanaram, one of the best known temples in Ayutthaya. You are in the Ban Pom subdistrict, on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River. This is outside the old island city, to its southwest, so the river is part of the setting as well as the ruins. The name means something like the Temple of long reign and glorious era. It is a big name for a big site. The temple is a late Ayutthaya creation, and it is famous for a central tower and a ring of smaller towers that still hold their shape. Over the next few minutes we will look at who built it and why, how the towers are arranged, and how a royal temple became a wartime camp and then a ruin. Along the way you will see how a place that was left abandoned came to be one of the most visited sites in Ayutthaya Historical Park.

2. 02

   A King's Memorial in 1630

   Wat Chaiwatthanaram was founded in 1630 by King Prasat Thong, one of the major rulers of the late Ayutthaya period. The usual account says he built it to honor his mother and to earn Buddhist merit. Some tellings also add that it marked his own rise to the throne. Historians do not agree on his motive. One reading, which Prince Damrong favored, holds that the temple was built to celebrate Ayutthaya's victory over Longvek. So you can stand here and picture two stories at once: a son's memorial to his mother, or a king's monument to a military triumph. The temple was also designed in a Khmer-inspired style, which sets it apart. Locals and scholars have long noted that its architecture does not look like most other temples in Ayutthaya.

3. 03

   Reading the Towers

   Look first at the layout. The compound covers a rectangle of about 160 by 310 meters, and it faces east. That follows a long-standing tradition for placing temples, and it also echoes events in the life of the Buddha. The heart of the site is the main prang, the tall tower in the Khmer-inspired style. It stands on a raised base, and the corner prangs sit on that same base around it. The main prang follows the form of early Ayutthaya prangs, but its four porches project out farther than usual. On the east side, the porch is opened right through to the inner chamber, where a Buddha image was enshrined. As you walk around, notice the stucco. Intricate reliefs once decorated the prang and the smaller chedis, and you can still pick out the craft in the surviving pieces. These carved scenes gave worshippers a story to read as they circled the tower.

4. 04

   From Royal Temple to Battle Camp to Ruin

   Wat Chaiwatthanaram was a royal temple, which in Thai is a wat luang. Kings carried out acts of royal merit here reign after reign, so the temple was restored under successive rulers. It was also where the funeral pyres of almost all members of the royal family were lit. When King Borommakot died, his cremation took place here. Then came the end of the kingdom. Before Ayutthaya fell in 1767, the temple was turned into a defensive camp, and that camp collapsed within nine days. After the fall of the city the temple was left to decay, and it stayed abandoned for well over a century while nature crept back in. The story does not stop there. In the 1980s the Thai government began restoration, and the Fine Arts Department has kept working here ever since. That is why you can still see the grand outline of what was built almost 400 years ago.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   As you finish your walk, turn back toward the central prang and take in how the whole composition fits together: the tall main tower, the smaller prangs at its corners, and the open space around them. Then look toward the river beyond the wall. This temple once served as the setting for royal ceremonies, and the water was never far away. Here is something to keep in mind as you go. The same site holds a son's memorial, a king's possible victory monument, a royal funeral ground, and a last-stand camp. Which of those stories do you feel most as you look at the towers? Look closely at the stucco, the porches and the base, and you may find the answer is written in the stone.