The Resilience and Revival of Wat Prayoon’s Stupa

via Bangkok Post, 09 October 2023: Wat Prayoon, also known as Wat Prayurawongsawas, is a temple in Bangkok that has undergone significant restoration, earning it a UNESCO Award of Excellence in 2013. The temple’s principal stupa, Phra Borommathat Maha Chedi, is unique for its hollow interior and central pillar, a design more typical of the Ayutthaya period. The restoration project involved intricate engineering to preserve the pillar and ensure the stupa’s stability, while also unearthing precious relics.

“This chedi is one of a kind in Thailand,” says Phra Brahmapundit, abbot of Wat Prayoon, as he sits serenely in the temple’s ubosot (ordination hall), against the impressive backdrop of a golden Buddha that remains resplendent with gilding adroitly executed almost two centuries ago.

The chedi’s most distinctive feature is its accessible interior space, where one can marvel at the massive central pillar of about 20m in height and 144 tonnes in weight. When construction began in 1828, under the reign of King Rama III, Wat Prayoon’s principal stupa was structurally anachronistic: hollow chedis with a central pillar were more typical of the Ayutthaya period (1350–1767). “But no such chedi from the Ayutthaya period ever attained this size,” the abbot remarks.

Source: Harnessing heritage