Thailand Guide
The central plains
Viharn Phra Mongkol Bopit
Opening time: Mon– Fri 8.30am–4.30pm, Sat & Sun 8.30am–5.30pm
Price: Free
Address: On the south side of Wat Phra Si Sanphet
Viharn Phra Mongkol Bopit attracts tourists and Thai pilgrims in about equal measure. The pristine hall – a replica of a typical Ayutthayan assembly hall, with its characteristic chunky lotus-capped columns around the outside – was built in 1956, with help from the Burmese to atone for their flattening of the city two centuries earlier, in order to shelter the revered Phra Mongkol Bopit, one of the largest bronze Buddhas in Thailand. The powerfully austere image, with its flashing mother-of-pearl eyes, was cast in the fifteenth century, then sat exposed to the elements from the time of the Burmese invasion until its new home was built. During restoration, the hollow image was found to contain hundreds of Buddha statuettes, some of which were later buried around the shrine to protect it.