Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit

Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit is the large hall with tiered roofs immediately next to Wat Phra Si Sanphet on its southern side, and unlike the ruins around it, it is a place of active worship. Inside sits Phra Mongkhon Bophit, a bronze Buddha about 12.5 metres tall, seated with the right hand reaching down to touch the earth. The image is made of bronze plates fixed over a brick core, and it is now covered in gold leaf.

Most visitors step in for a few minutes on the way between the palace ruins and the car park. Thai pilgrims kneel to make offerings, and the atmosphere is livelier than at the ruined temples nearby. Dress modestly and take off your shoes at the door.

The Buddha was probably cast in the 16th century. According to the chronicles, a 17th-century king moved it to its present spot and built a pavilion over it. Lightning later set that roof on fire, and the falling timbers broke the image’s neck, so a hall replaced the pavilion. In 1767 the hall was wrecked during the Burmese sack and the Buddha lost its head and right arm. These were repaired in the 1920s, and further restoration followed in the 1930s. When the left shoulder was opened during repairs in the 1950s, workers found small Buddha images sealed inside, now shown at Ayutthaya’s Chao Sam Phraya National Museum. The present hall was completed in 1957, helped by a donation from the Prime Minister of Burma during a visit the year before.