King Rama IV took Buddhist recluse at Tham
Khao Yoi several times and stayed overnights at Wat Maha Samanaram at the foot
of Khao Wang. After he took the throne, he had the first new palace built in
Phetchaburi in 1859, on the top of Khao Khiri or Khao Maha Nakhon Khiri Palace”.
The hill was renamed “Khao Mahasawan” the great paradise but has been commonly
called Khao Wang by the locals.
Khao Wang is a range of low hills with 3 big peaks, the
highest is 95 metres. When the king Rama IV had the palace
built on the western peak, he also had a new white stupa
built to shelter the old chedi on the middle peak. The new
chedi enshrining the relic was called Phra That Chomphet. He
also bilt Wat Kaeo to the New palace’s temple on the eastern
peak. The stucco pattern on the chapel’s gable was the Royal
Crown, the emblem of King Rama IV. Behind the chapel, there
is a marble stupa in greenish gray colour 4/12 wah tall,
foundation 6 cubits wide. Its unique construction is being
sculptured at Ko Sichang and brought to be erected here.
The buildings on Khao Wang were constructed in western style which had just come
in fashion for the court at the time and also in Chinese style which had been
fashionable since King Rama III. The palace is admirably unique monument of that
period.
The temple was built in
Ayutthaya period. The main ubosot is decorated with
masterpiece stucco work especially the one portraying a
Garuda that looks do alive facing sideways in the middle
of the Phum pattern of which each tip flapping like
frames and the running scroll design with coiled stems.
Apart from the historical ruins, Khao Bandai it, the
highest line-stone hill of 120 meters in the township,
has some beautiful caves worth visiting. The first of
the 3 important caves is Tham Prathun of about 30 meters
deep. The walls are lined with as many as 40 Buddha
images. The next cave, Tham Phra Chao Suea, according to
the legend is so called as Phra Chao Suea had once come
to see Phra Saeng and gave him an Buddha image in the
posture of pacifying the ocean enshined here. A few
meters further, Tham Phra Phuttha Saiyat, enshrines a
big reclining Buddha.
It is far from city hall,
about 500 meters, temple located near old Phetchaburi
West Temple within boundary Buddhist, the zone ,
interesting thing in the temple, including the top of
the five Prang Prang a brick plaster built the king in
accordance with the motto philosophies, aircraft,
Buddhist, five, a model enshrined in the top of each
Prang Ong assumed that the top of the five Prang, it
would be the pagoda as well as the top of the five
cities in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, to solve the
prang in the days after the stupa, to establish the
relics what is interesting about it another way, is fine
stuccowork, in the temple Luang and ACE cunning work
Diamond town, which look
in the temple in addition, can be very difficult to
contain the sacred Buddha image of Petchaburi respected
temple is a priest Luang Poh Ban Laem form a relic of
Buddha images and Luang Poh wattakhrao.
This temple or Wat Phra
Non in another name, stands at the foot of Khao Wang.
The temple houses the beautiful reclining Buddha image
or Phra Phuttha Buddha image or Phra Phuttha Saiyat in
stucco and brick work, lacquered and covered with gold
foil. One of the 4 largest reclining Buddha in Thailand,
and is believed to date back to the middle of the
Ayutthaya period. The status, presently enshrined in
Phra Wihan (formerly laid outdoor) contains inside many
Dvaravati and U-thong Buddha images.
The cave is located at about 3 kilometers, away from the township inside
Khao Luang. Visitors can easily walk up to the see colourful stalagmite
and stalactities in the cave aerates a beautiful sun beam down a hall
below and makes the cave airy. This big hall houses a lot of religious
objects.
From the edge of the cave, visitors go down a slightly steep stairway
about 10 meters long to the large hall full of old Buddha images, stupas
and chedis. These historical objects built by the pilgrims of great
faith include one 6 –meters reclining image of Buddha and a large image
in the posture of subduing mara. ect. At the base of a statue inscribed
the royal emblems of King Rama IV. Some images were built and many were
restored by the royal remarks of King Rama IV.
There are yet several other caves on khao Luang and the whole area is
cool and shady by ancient frangipani. The yard is lively with vendors
selling fruits to visitors to feed monkeys which live on the hill.
This temple is a must to admire
the murals by great masters of Ayutthaya period. Painting on
the wall in the ubosot depicts the gath ering of angles in 5
lines and the most charming angle in the posture of subduing
mara and a cast figure of the former Supreme Patriarch Taeng-mo.
The gable is the magnificient stucco work also by great
masters of the late Ayutthaya period, the pattern looks so
alive as if flapping in the wind.
Sala Kanparian or the pavilion is believed to have been
former residence of King Suea of Ayutthaya, dismantled to
dedicate to the former Supreme Patriarch Taeng-mo.
King Rama IV had it built at Ban Puen village by the river of Phetchaburi in
1910, the very last year of his reign, to be his retreat in the rainy season. It
was a model of the summer palace of Keiser Whilhelm of Germany. Mr. Carl
Dohring, the German architect who had designed Bang Khun Phrom Palace, was
assigned to supervise the construction which was in Jugendstil style, a mixture
between the Baroque and Art Nouveau.
The palace was completed in 1981 in the reign of King Rama VI who named it Phra
Ram Ratchniwet. It was later used as the lodging for foreign visiting
dignitaries. The palace is just a big 2-storeyed building with a high roof in a
dome shape called Sanphet Prasat. A garden and fountain pond is surrounded by
the mansion compound. The interior design focused on grandness and luxury. The
dinning room’s walls had ceramics finish. The yellow tiles embossed with
pictures of animals and plants, were framed with smaller green ceramic tiles.
The door’s opening was decorated with wrought iron in Art Nouveau style. The
columns in the bed rooms were faced with shiny gold coloured embossed metal
sheets.
Situated 6 kilometers before the
entrance to Khao Yoi Office, the old temple’s ubosot is wholly made
of teak, in the size of 7 rooms long and 3 rooms wide, the balcony
of 1 room wide, with extending verandas. The exterior wall panels
caved in bas-re life depict the previous lives of Buddha in
continuance. The inner rear wall is notably different from other
places, that is the carving depicts the story of Sai aio. This
superb work was crated by a Chinese master called Chek Hong.
Hat Chao
Samran is an old holiday seaside of Thailand. It used to be the site of the
royal lodging pavilion of King Rama VI in 1917 before the completion of Phra
Ratchaniwet Maruekkhathaiyawan Palace.
A retaining wall and walkway are built along part of its sandy mud beach about 4
kilometers long to accommodate restaurants and stalls of dried foodstuffs. As it
is the beach nearest to town, people like to drop by, sit leisurely on
deckchairs or dine at one of the outdoor beach-front restaurants.
The stucco work at the main ubosot was done by
artists of Ayutthaya period. The base of the stucco Bai Sema, stones (scared
boundary stones) on 4 sides, depicts demons and human beings of nations carrying
the Bai Sema. Above the base, the second level lines with Garuda and the third
level is the ancient Krachang pattern. The fourth level is a lotus pattern and
on the top stands the big and graceful double Bai Sema.
The temple or Wat Khao Wang stands at the foot of
Khao Wang. Inside the main ubosot, the murals are the work of a group of
disciples of Master Khua In Khong, the famous artist during the reign of King
Rama IV. The paintings still in clear colours depict the pilgrimage four stages
of life: birth, aging, sickness and death.
Hat Khlong Thian of about 3 kilometers long lies North of Hat Cha-am. Separated
aside by the Khong Thian canal, this beach is a real retreat for visitors who
seek tranquil atmosphere and wish observe the way of life of the fishermen in
the nearby village.
The two-storeyed tower in cylinder shape with a
glass dome was used s the observatory due to King Rama IV’s interest in
astronomy. The locals then preferred to call it Krachom Kaeo because the light
through the glass dome well served as the landmark to guide fishermen safely
dialing in Ao Ban Laem.
