Chaiwatthanaram temple is one of the most famous temples of Ayutthaya, at the time the biggest city on the planet, the ancient capital of the eponymous Kingdom. He, like the rest of the city, recognized as a UNESCO world Heritage site.

Wat Chaiwatthanaram was built in 1630 by king Prasat Thong. He was the first temple during the reign of the king and was dedicated to his mother who lived near the site of construction. Literally, the name “Chaiwatthanaram” is translated as “the temple of long reign and glorious era.” The Church bore the title of king, it is here that the royals held an important ceremony and it is here were cremated their bodies.

Despite the fact that the temple is Buddhist, its architecture refers to the Khmer style, popular at the time. Its characteristic feature is prong – structure, resembling corn on the cob that holds the relic.

In the center of Wat Chaiwatthanaram is a 35-metre prang, surrounded by four smaller ones. About the middle of prangos are inputs, which are steep stairs. The entire design is on a platform, around which there are 8 dome-shaped Chedi (stupas). Each of them are bas-reliefs about the life of the Buddha, you need to consider in a clockwise direction.

The entire structure of the temple is nothing like the Buddhist view of the structure of the world. Central prang symbolizes mount Meru as the Central axis of the world. Around four pranga – four points of the compass.

After the attack on Ayutthaya to the Burmese in 1767 the Church and the whole town was devastated. Theft of valuables, barbaric destruction of the Buddha statues were commonplace. Only in 1987 the Department of fine arts began the reconstruction of Wat Chaiwatthanaram, and only in 1992 it was opened to the world.