Thailand Guide
The central plains
Wat Phra Si Sanphet
Opening time: Daily 8am–6pm
Price: B30
Address: Thanon Naresuan
Wat Phra Si Sanphet was built in 1448 by King Boromatrailokanat as his private chapel. Formerly the grandest of Ayutthaya's temples, and still one of the best preserved, it took its name from one of the largest standing metal images of the Buddha ever known, the Phra Si Sanphet, erected here in 1503. Towering 16m high and covered in 173kg of gold, it did not survive the ravages of the Burmese, though Rama I rescued the pieces and placed them inside a stupa at Wat Pho in Bangkok. The three remaining grey stupas in the characteristic style of the old capital were built to house the ashes of three kings, and have now become the most hackneyed image of Ayutthaya.