Thailand Guide
The central plains
Chao Sam Phraya National Museum
Opening time: Wed– Sun 9am–4pm, last admission 3.30pm
Price: B30
Address: Thanon Rojana
Website: www.thailandmuseum.com
The largest of Ayutthaya's three museums, the Chao Sam Phraya National Museum, is where most of the moveable remains of Ayutthaya's glory – those that weren't plundered by treasure-hunters or taken to the National Museum in Bangkok – are exhibited. The museum itself was funded by a Fine Arts Department sale of the Buddhist votive tablets excavated from Wat Ratburana in the late 1950s, and given the original name (Chao Sam Phraya) of King Boromraja II, who built the temple. Apart from numerous Buddhas and some fine woodcarving, the museum is bursting with gold treasures in all shapes and sizes – the original relic casket from Wat Mahathat, betel-nut sets and model stupas, a royal wimple in gold filigree, a royal sword and scabbard and a fifteenth-century crouching elephant, both dripping with gems and both found in the crypt of the main tower of Wat Ratburana.