Thailand Guide
The central plains
Wat Mahathat (Wat Yai)
Price: B40
Address: Thanon Buddhabucha; at the northern limit of town, on the east bank of the Nan River
Officially called Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat (and known locally as Wat Mahathat or Wat Yai), this fourteenth-century temple was one of the few buildings miraculously to escape Phitsanulok's great 1957 fire. It receives a constant stream of worshippers eager to pay homage to the highly revered Buddha image inside the assembly hall.
Delicately inlaid mother-of-pearl doors mark the entrance to the assembly hall, opening onto the low-ceilinged interior, painted mostly in dark red and black, with gold leaf motifs, and dimly lit by narrow slits along the upper walls. In the centre of the far wall sits the much-cherished Phra Buddha Chinnarat: late Sukhothai in style and probably cast in the fourteenth century, this gleaming, polished-bronze Buddha is one of the finest of the period and, for Thais, second in importance only to the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok. Tales of the statue's miraculous powers have fuelled the devotion of generations of pilgrims – one legend tells how the Buddha wept tears of blood when Ayutthayan princes arrived in Phitsanulok to oust the last Sukhothai regent. The Phra Buddha Chinnarat stands out among Thai Buddha images because of its mandorla, the flame-like halo that symbolizes extreme radiance and frames the upper body and head like a chair-back, tapering off into nagas at the arm rests. There's an almost perfect replica of the Phitsanulok original in Bangkok's Marble Temple, commissioned by Rama V in 1901. Every February, Phitsanulok honours the Phra Buddha Chinnarat with a week-long festival, which features likay folk-theatre performances and dancing.
Behind the assembly hall, the gilded mosaic tower houses the holy relic that gives the temple its name (Mahathat means "Great Relic Stupa") – though which particular remnant lies entombed here is unclear – and the cloister surrounding both structures contains a gallery of Buddha images of different styles.
Because the image is so sacred, a dress code is strictly enforced here – shorts and skimpy clothing are forbidden.