THAILAND: Ayutthaya
The ruins of the ancient Siamese capital of Ayutthaya lie on an
island bend in the Chao Phraya river 76 km north of Bangkok. The city was
founded in 1350 AD by King Ramathibodi of the first Uthong dynasty remaining capital of the Kingdom of Siam for more than 400 years. At the
height of its `golden age` in the 17-18th centuries Ayutthaya
counted three royal palaces and some 375 Buddhist wats - temples -
for also used for education and the performing arts. Commerce flourished. Dutch and
British companies set up factories there and the court of King Narai the
Great (1656-1688) established links with Louis XIV
whose ambassadors compared the city in size and wealth to Paris. Warships and
ceremonial royal barges moored on the north bank near Wat Tin Tha,
a classic Siamese temple guarded by mythical creatures from the Ramakien - Thailand`s national epic drawn from the Ramayana. After
deflecting many invasions, in 1767 Ayutthaya was conquered by the
Burmese and its exquisite art treasures and the libraries of
historic archives were destroted. Fortunately its contact with the west
has provided historians with rich sources of material describing the courtly lifestyle
of Ayutthaya. The remains of prangs (reliquary towers) and
the ruins of its forts and gigantic monasteries provide present visitors
with some idea of Ayutthaya`s past splendour, a city described by travellers
of that time as the most beautiful in Asia. The historic site was inscribed
on the World Heritage List in 1991.