Wat Prayurawongsawas Worawihan, or Wat Prayoon in short, is considered as one of the royal monasteries. I heard about this temple for quite some time, but never thought that it is located in the Kudi Chin community.
Wat Prayoon was built in 1828 by Somdet Chao Phraya Borom Maha Prayurawong (Dit), who had strong faith in Buddhism. He donated his former coffee plantation land for the temple’s construction, which took eight years to complete in 1836.
Here are highlights as well as what to do at this temple.
Climb Up The Magnificent Phra Borommathat Maha Chedi
Starting from the giant white structure where you can see right away from the main entrance. This structure is a chedi, a huge complex of chedi. If you look from above, there is the main chedi located in the middle and surrounded by smaller chedi circled around the base.
The main chedi measures 50 meters in diameter and about 60 meters in height. Not only the size of the chedi is huge and stands together in one complex, but also it is the only chedi in the country which used the traditional construction technique from the Ayutthaya-era, featuring a central pillar as the core structure of the chedi. It has been through many restorations over its history of nearly 200 years. In 2013, the chedi won the Award of Excellence from the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation – to recognise the efforts of preserving the traditional construction expertise of the chedi.
You can go inside the chedi to see the central pillar structure of this chedi and learn a bit more about the history of this temple as well. To enter the chedi complex, you have to walk into Phra Prayoon Philatthana Museum, which is a European style building. Here you will find the entrance to the chedi complex. Next, you need to find the entrance at the base of the central chedi and walk up to the room inside the main chedi.
For the smaller chedi around the main one, there is a walkway at the base of the smaller chedis where you can go up and walk around to enjoy the view of the city.
See Artifacts at Phra Prayoon Philatthana Museum
Located in a European-style building, the museum exhibits various ancient artifacts, including Buddha statues and amulets discovered inside the chedi during renovations. It also houses sacred Buddha relics brought from Sri Lanka.
Journeybliss tips: Yep, this museum is the entrance to the chedi complex mentioned earlier. However, I recommend you walk inside to the chedi first and later come back to this museum. Here is an airconditioned room where you can relax a bit after the heat outside as well as there is free water inside the museum to cool down.
Cool Down Yourself At Artificial Mountain Garden “Khao Mo”
Khao Mo is a concept of gardening in Thailand which requires the presence of a crafted artificial mountain from rocks located inside the garden. Normally, this style of garden is usually located inside the temple and open to the public or a royal residence, which is rare to find. Nowadays it even has less and less due to the high maintenance cost. Khao Mo at Wat Prayoon is considered to be large and well preserved.
The artificial mountain here is set in the middle of a pond and features many fascinating structures, including the Monument of Three Cannons, a Gothic-style Mandapa, and the Supalak Wilai Pavilion (Western Pavilion).
Feel free to sit and cool down yourself in any corner of the garden. You can also buy some turtle food at the entrance to the garden and feed the turtle inside the garden as well! This can be a great activity you can do if you travel with your children to this temple.
Opening Hours
The temple opens daily from 8:00 to 17:00.
Entrance Fee
Everyone can enter the temple for free. However, the temple offers donation boxes where you should donate some money for the maintenance. The rate is normally between 5-20 Baht or up to how much you would like to contribute.
How to get there?
Walk. If you plan to visit the Kudi Chin community, you can consider walking from Santa Cruz Church. Go along the street at the back of Santa Cruz Church for about 450 meters, you will see the Wat Prayurawongsawas School. Turn left and walk along the Thetsaban Sai 1 road for another 150 meters. The entrance will be on your right.
By Tuktuk. You can ask the driver to go to “Wat Prayoon”
