Last weekend, I attended a walking tour called "Three Wats, Three Architectural Styles". Now that I'm studying at the National Museum, I've taken a new interest in Thai and Southeast Asian art history. The tour was a fascinating look at three historic temples with three very different cultural designs, respectively Mon, Ayutthaya, and Chinese style temples. Over the next few days, I'll be releasing a miniseries of three posts, each one highlighting one of these beautiful and fascinatingly unique temples.***
Wat Chong Nonsi: a rare look inside an Ayutthaya-Era ordination hall in Bangkok featuring some of the city's oldest temple murals
The second temple that we visited was Wat Chong Nonsi. Getting there involved passing beneath one of the most intricate marvels of engineering in Bangkok - one of the city's biggest intersections, made of bridges spanning the Chaophraya River.
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| the most impressive intersection in Bangkok |
Wat Chong Nonsi is one of the oldest temples in Bangkok, dating back to the Ayutthaya period when Bangkok was just a sleepy fishing village.
The old temple ubosot (ordination hall) is famous for its magnificent murals, the oldest ones in Bangkok! The original hall is no longer used, however, and is now maintained by the Fine Arts Department. Today, the monks use a newer hall, which we passed on our way to see the old ubosot.
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| the new hall at Wat Chong Nonsi |
From the side, the ubisot is curved slightly, like the bow of a boat. It's a very unique architectural style only found in late Ayutthaya era temples.
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| the old Ayutthaya-era temple hall at Wat Chong Nonsi |
The temple was locked up. It is not open to the public in order to protect and preserve the important murals (which don't hold up so well in the hot and humid Thai climate). Since people can't usually go inside to make merit (an act which often involves placing small squares of gold leaf on the Buddha statues), they had instead taken to placing the gold leaf on the closed doors.
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| the door are covered with gold leaf squares |
We had called ahead, though. Our guide, Noi, had spoken with the temple's abbot to arrange a very special private viewing for us. Normally this wouldn't be permitted, so we were very lucky! The abbot told us that the temple is generally only opened up to the public on important Buddhist holidays.
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| the abbot of the temple unlocked the door for us |
The hall was small, dark, and a bit stuffy. The old monk opened the four small windows, turned on the lights, and set up a little electric fan so that we would be more comfortable.
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| inside the old ubosot |
Modern temples tend to be bright and breezy, with huge open windows. This old one, however, had only very small windows. I think it's something to do with keeping all of the luck and holy power of the monk's ceremonies within the ubosot hall (but I'm not 100% on that).
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| statues in the temple |
Here are a few photos of the temple murals. They are a bit deteriorated, and are not in as good of a condition as the
ones at the Buddhaisawan Chapel. Nevertheless, they are an incredible and priceless cultural treasure! It's really remarkable that I had the chance to see these historic murals in a private viewing.
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| the oldest temple murals in Bangkok |
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| historic murals depicting the life of the Buddha |
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| it looks like a mural featuring a war elephant |
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| the Hindu god Indra |
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| the best-preserved segment of the mural |
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| we were very lucky to get the chance to see the amazing murals |
One of my friends on the walking tour that day is also part of the National Museum Volunteer program that I am currently training in. We were both, understandably, very excited to see this rare piece of Thai art history!
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| bright sunny day at Wat Chong Nonsi |
3 Wats Miniseries
2) Wat Chong Nonsi (Ayutthaya)
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