World Heritage Site #53: Historic City of Ayutthaya
From the World Heritage inscription:
Founded c. 1350, Ayutthaya became the second Siamese capital after Sukhothai. It was destroyed by the Burmese in the 18th century. Its remains, characterized by the prang (reliquary towers) and gigantic monasteries, give an idea of its past splendour.
Ayutthaya is very similar to Skuhothai, except it is a much busier city and the attractions are spread out over a much larger area, not confined to a single park. It is a northern suburb of Bangkok and can easily be reach by taxi or tour bus in 30-60 minutes depending on traffic. They day I went was New Year’s day and all the temples were packed with people.
That is so very incredible! You capture the beauty of this site well! Flowing garments over the rock Buddhas and angle along with uniform color…Nice work Gary!
wow, all the buddhas have their heads, nice to see
I didn't even realize that until your comment. So many of the buddhas I've seen have been decapitated. Ayutthaya was built more recently, which is probably the reason. It is also still in use as a temple, which stops artifact poachers.
That was definitely one of the highlights of my trip to Thailand…that and hearing that my train from Chiang Mai had “fallen off the tracks” and was canceled.