Tranquility & Monumentality: Wat Lokaya Sutharam

#ancientbuildings The Statue Of the Reclining Buddha. Wat Lokayasuttha Temple (Wat Lokaya Sutha means "Temple on earth"). The city of Ayutthaya. Thailand. Ayutthaya was the capital of Siam from 1350 to 1767. It was ruled by 33 kings. The city was captured by Burmese troops and completely destroyed during the 15 years of occupation. The invaders did not spare a single temple, not a single palace, almost everything was razed to the ground. Now Ayutthaya is a huge number of ruins. Since 1991, UNESCO has included the ruins of the former capital of the Kingdom of Siam in the World Cultural Heritage List. Looking at the ruins, it is now difficult to imagine that three hundred and seventy-five temples, three royal palaces and twenty-nine forts were located in the center of Ayutthaya. Like many others, there is practically nothing left of the Wat Lokaya Sutha temple, except for an incomprehensibly surviving stone prang. It is amazing that a unique statue of the Reclining Buddha is well preserved next to the ruins of the temple. The statue is 42 meters long and 8 meters high, it is the second largest in Thailand after the reclining Buddha at Wat Po Temple in Bangkok. The statue is not painted. You can walk through the ruins of the temple and near the statue absolutely for free. There is a kiosk nearby where they sell lotus flowers for laying in front of the statue, but do not be surprised if you see that the Thais collect the flowers left by the Buddha and take them back for sale. Archaeologists have not been able to determine exactly when Wat Lokaya Suttha was built. It is only known that it was destroyed in 1767 during an attack on the city by the Burmese. The most interesting part of the temple that has survived to this day is the 42-meter reclining Buddha.