25-The Wihan at Wat Phra Si Sanphet

The Wihan was located within the grounds of a royal monastery Wat Phra Si Sanphet which is situated within the old Grand Palace of Ayutthaya. The structure consists of a large room made of brick and bonded with plaster. It was built in 1499 during the reign of the second King of Ayutthaya to house the golden standing Buddha statue. The statue was gilded with a total of 346.5 kilograms of fine gold. When the Burmese troops invaded Ayutthaya and burnt the statue down, The Burmese soldiers took back the precious metal. All that was left was a shapeless lump of bronze.
The scaled model of the Ayutthaya assembly hall in The Ancient City has been reconstructed to show the structure of the traditional Thai Wihan which once housed a presiding Buddha image and its present dilapidated condition.