Wat Phra Sri Sanphet

Three royal chedis and the ruins of Ayutthaya's grandest temple

The most important temple in the old royal palace grounds, and Ayutthaya's equivalent of Bangkok's Wat Phra Kaew. The three iconic bell-shaped chedis, built between 1448 and 1530, contained the ashes of three Ayutthayan kings and have become the symbol of the city.

The temple was never a residence for monks. It served exclusively as a royal chapel within the palace compound. What remains today gives the clearest sense of how grand Ayutthaya must have been at its peak.

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The temple once housed a 16-metre standing Buddha covered in 250 kilograms of gold. When the Burmese sacked Ayutthaya in 1767, they melted the gold off the statue by setting it on fire.

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