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Arts in Southeast Asia Database
ArchitectureThe Principle Chedi Wat Chiang Nga Sangaram
This is a bell-shaped Chedi with indented sloping mouldings and a series of lotus bud. The bell element in a round plan is decorated with lotus pattern with a replica chedi at the top.
ArchitectureSan Ta Pha Daeng
It is a Khmer-style prasat made of a large laterite that is commonly used in construction work in Khmer culture. The top of the prasat has already collapsed, only the room that used to place the idols and a porch at the entrance, facing east, that still remain. The lower part of the building starts from the floor supporting the lotus petal base. Above the base is a square-shaped Rueanthat with corners added. There is a porch extended to the east with a stairway in front of it. This is also a typical style of the Khmer castle and later, this style was chosen to develop the new chedi by the Sukhothai school which previously probably built in Hinduism or Mahayana Buddhism. It is believed that the upper part of the prasat which has completely collapsed is in a bar shape with layers like other typical Khmer castles.
ArchitecturePrang Srithep
Prang Srithep archaeological site consists of the principle prasat, Banalai or repositories for scriptures, Gopuras, walls, a platform or the cross-shaped walkway, the Naga Bridge, and a rectangular building that runs parallel to the Naga Bridge.The Principal prasat is a brick prasat in a square plan with corners added. It is located on a two-story lotus petal base made of laterite. The entrance is on the east, the other three entrances are false doors and inside the false doors are holes made to place sculptures of idols.Currently, there are no traces or decorations on the prasat. The original architecture might have a wooden roof at the front of the building since traces of a large round pole and a lot of clay roof tiles on the floor of the lotus petal base.From the antiquities found in the area of Prang Srithep, an image of Shiva with four arms included, therefore the age of Prang Srithep is determined to be around the 16th-17th B.E.
ArchitecturePrang Song Pi Nong
The style of architecture is the Khmer prasat built with bricks. There are traces of plaster on the outer wall. The diagram consists of two prasats located nearby in the north-south line on the same Phaitee base and they both are facing west. The larger prasat is at the north of the smaller one on the square diagram. There is a porch extended on the west side which is the entrance, and the other 3 sides are false doors. In front of the porch appears a cross-shaped laterite base. The roof has collapsed but the decoration of laterite carambola petals on the roof were found from excavating further. Therefore, it was assumed that the upper part was probably done in tiers. Each tier is decorated with postures of the Naga until the peak. The overall shape of the upper part is in a canopy shape like the one of Prasat Hin Phimai or Phanom Rung which is an important development of the Khmer prasat in the 16th century B.E.Originally, there was only the lower part of Rueanthat left of the small prasat on the south side, but later it had been repaired and expanded to install the lintels found in the same area. The overall materials and shape are the same as the larger prasat but the complexity of the base and the layers of Rueanthat had been reduced and the front porch was not formed. Important artifacts found around Prang Song Pi Nong are a Shiva lingam, a Yoni base, and a Nandi buried underground at the building base level, and therefore assumed that Prang Song Phi Nong was originally a religious place enshrined Shaivism in Brahminism. The age of the site might be assumed to be around the 17th century according to the lintels and the doorframe pillars that are in Khmer Arts, Baphuon style found from the excavations.
ArchitectureKuti Ruesi Ban Khok Mueang
It is a rectangular diagram with an outmost laterite wall with an arch entrance or gopura in the east. Inside at the center is located the principle prasat made of laterite. Some parts have sandstone at the door frames. There is a porch at the east entrance. The other 3 entrances are false doors. On the southeastern side of the inner wall is a laterite Banalai as well. Some parts of the gopura and the Principal prasat are decorated with a gable or a lintel in Naga or Magara with Naga. It is assumed that this is the art style of the 16th – 17th century B.E. However, the decorations are not perfectly connected with the wall and the principle prasat, therefore it may be as to bring the old items attaching to the new buildings. Nevertheless, if these pieces are original then it may be assumed that there had been a religious place built around the 16th century B.E. Later, in the 18th century B.E., it was adapted to be a chapel of Arogayasala in Mahayana Buddhism.
ArchitectureWat Si Sawai
It is facing south surrounded with a rectangle laterite wall. There is an arch entrance on the south wall and next is the outer hall connected to a solid inner viharn in the north-south line. Next to that are 3prasats located in a west-east line. The central prasat is higher than the other two. The current condition shows that many constructions and modifications have been done to this site. The base is submerged into the ground and it is made of laterite. The roof was built with bricks decorated with jackfruit petals in the image of Krut Yut Naga, deities, angels, and Nagas at the frame of the gate. This is a mix of arts of Khmer and Sukhothai. In addition, there are traces of other structures such as the terraces that surround the prasat and the 3 bases that are around the principle prasat. The area between the temple wall and the inner wall has a pond behind the castle which would have been an upside-down U shape. Later the west area had been filled and a small laterite viharn appeared. In front of the small viharn appears a pagoda base and there is also another laterite base behind the temple wall in the north. Significant antiquities that were found in the temple is the Narai Bantomsin lintel, a stone slab of the standing Narai, and decorated bronze Buddha images. The age of the antiquities is around the 18th centure B.E. It is therefore assumed that this Wat Sri Sawai was first built as a religious place for Brahminism or Mahayana Buddhism. Later, when Sukhothai had power over the Khmer in the 19th century B.E., it was converted to a religious place for Theravada Buddhism.
ArchitecturePrasat Wat Chao Chan
It consists of the principle prasat in a square shape located in a center of a laterite wall in a rectangular diagram with a surface decorated with plaster. The bottom base is a set of inverted lotuses - supine lotus. There are four arches at the main building with only one entrance and one exit on the east side. The doors on the other sides are false doors. There is a room for enshrining idols at the front. Later in the Sukhothai period, this religious site had been transformed to a Buddhist temple instead by covering the surrounding area of the base that made the inverted lotuses- the supine lotus base submerged underground. A laterite viharn along with a laterite Mondop were then built in front of the prang prasat for enshrining Phra Athatharot in the north of the prang. Inside the Mondop, there are rough laterite shapes and a standing Buddha image with both hands attached to the body. The wooden roof has already collapsed, only pieces of clay tiles scattering around. Later, Fine Arts Department discovered an amulet decorated as a king made of lead and tin. When digging deeper, artifacts from the Dvaravati period such as Hariphunchai wares, glass beads, and human skeleton were found.
