---
node: spot_ayutthaya_wat_phra_si_sanphet
type: spot
slug: wat_phra_si_sanphet
destination: dest_ayutthaya
title: "Wat Phra Si Sanphet"
lead: "Wat Phra Si Sanphet was the royal temple inside Ayutthaya's palace grounds, with no monks in residence — the Thai equivalent of the Grand Palace's Wat Phra Kaew. Its three bell-shaped chedis hold the ashes of three fifteenth-century kings."
published: 2026-08-12
updated: 2026-08-22
image_file: spot_ayutthaya_wat_phra_si_sanphet.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Three_Chedis_of_Wat_Phra_Si_Sanphet_20231230_(II).jpg"
image_author: "Supanut Arunoprayote"
image_license: "CC BY 4.0"
---

## Overview

The temple was founded in 1448 and once held a standing Buddha 16 metres high covered in 340 kilograms of gold; the Burmese burned the image to melt the gold off it in 1767 and the fragments were later interred in a stupa in Bangkok. The three chedis were restored in the 1950s and are the most photographed silhouette in the historical park. What is left is the plan: you can walk the axis of a royal temple with nothing standing on it.

## Highlights

Come at sunrise or in the last hour, when the brick goes orange and the park is empty; the middle of the day here is brutal and shadeless. The adjoining palace ruins are free to walk. The historical park is a UNESCO site and a single ticket covers six temples, which is the sensible way to buy.