Page 94 - Experience Thailand and More

WHAT TO DO

AND SEE

Wat Sri Chum
Jarodwititong Road, opposite Ramkhamhaeng National Museum, Mueang Kao, Muang, Sukhothai
(+66) 55 697 527, (+66) 55 697 241, (+66) 55 697 310
Open daily from 6.00 a.m. - 9.00 p.m.

To the north of the walls that guard old Sukhothai city is probably the
second most photographed site at Sukhothai after Wat Mahathat, Wat
Sri Chum, or Temple of the Bodhi Tree. As one approaches the mondop,
mandapa, or once crowned pavilion with columned walls, some visitors
become mesmerized by the benevolent gaze of the giant Buddha image
(15 m. tall and 11 m. wide), Phra Atchana, seen through an arched doorway,
sitting in the pose of meditation, subduing mara, representing the moment
th
he attained enlightenment. Constructed originally in the 13 century by
King Ramkhamhaeng, it had declined into ruin until the late King Bumiphol
Adulyadej had it restored in 1952. While much faded, the murals on the
walls are the oldest examples of Thai mural painting. The Sri Chum stone
inscription found here is considered the second most important after the
Ramkhamhaeng Inscription as it tells the history of the founding of this
capital.

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