Danny With Love

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The Glorious Ruins of Ayutthaya, Thailand’s Old Capital

Upstream from Bangkok lies the destroyed capital of Siam, one of the most beautiful cities ever lost to history.


Cover photo: Ruins of the Wat Mahathat (Temple of the Great Relic), Ayutthaya, Thailand (2023). Photo by Danny With Love.


Restored in 1954, and spanning 42 meters (138 feet), the reclining figure of the Wat Lokaya Sutha (Temple of the Earth) depicts the dying Buddha ready to achieve Nirvana (Enlightenment), Ayutthaya, Thailand (2023). Photo by Danny With Love.

Thai government agency, the Fine Arts Department reconstructed this preaching hall in 1957 to house one of the nation’s largest Buddha figures, Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit (Viharn of the Buddha of the Holy and Supremely Auspicious Reverence), Ayutthaya, Thailand (2023). Photo by Danny With Love.

Icons of classic Ayutthaya architecture, the chedi (pagodas) of the Wat Phra Si Sanphet (Temple of the Holy, Splendid Omniscient), at the Royal Palace, protect the ashes of King Trailok and his sons, Intharacha II and Ramathibodi II, Ayutthaya, Thailand (2023). Photo by Danny With Love.

Intro

During my winter vacation to Thailand — upon the recommendation of my fellow teachers — I took an excursion to the Historic City of Ayutthaya (อยุธยา), the second capital of the Siamese Kingdom, and one of just six UNESCO world heritage sites in the nation. By the 17th century, Ayutthaya was one of the most prosperous cities in the world.

Posing at the ruins of Wat Phra Si Sanphet (Temple of the Holy, Splendid Omniscient), Ayutthaya, Thailand (2023).

According to contemporary accounts, Ayutthaya was a radiant island fortress, resplendent with treasure and bustling with commerce. The Dutch sailor known as Glanius called it “the most lovely city on earth.”

“Ayutthaya was free from all misfortunes, serene and joyful, beautiful as a heavenly city, replete with food and other necessities in abundance,” recalled monk-historian Phra Phonnarat.

Siam’s best artisans and craftsmen lived in Ayutthaya; much of the art and architecture was created in the Lopburi (Khmer-era) and U-Thong (early Ayutthaya) styles, and influenced by trading partners from around the world.

The capital housed thousands of temples, with reliquary towers and Buddhist sculptures covered in precious metals and gems. “There are infinite Pagodes of Gold, Silver, Stone,” wrote the German adventurer, Sir Johann Albert von Mandelslo, and not one lacked gilded steeples, producing “a very beautiful effect from afar.”

Foreshadowing Ayutthaya’s tragic plunder, the Dutch merchant Jeremias van Vliet wrote, the royal treasures were so vast, that “a ruined kingdom could be restored.” Some 33 kings ruled over Ayutthaya for a period of over 400 years, from 1350, until the shining capital was devastated by the Burmese army in 1767.

Ayutthaya-native Nuttapon Kumsanlas, 29, an environmental engineer working in Osaka, Japan, tells me, “there may only be old temples, Buddha statues, or ruins [today],” but “we grew up with the memory of [the old] Ayutthaya”.

Whilst walking among the ruins — partially reclaimed by nature, partially restored — one can only imagine the splendor of this lost metropolis.

View of Judea [Ayutthaya], the Capital of Siam, oil on canvas, attributed to Johannes Vinckboons (circa 1662/3). Via the Rijksmuseum (color-corrected and cropped).

The Capital of Siam

A descendent of a rich Chinese merchant family, U-Thong (Ramathibodi I), King of Siam, founded Ayutthaya in 1350, on an island nestled by three rivers, the Pa Sak, the Lop Buri, and the Chao Phraya. The waters blessed Ayutthaya with fertile soil, natural defenses, and connected the island to the gulf for trade.

Linking the East and West, Ayutthaya became incredibly wealthy, exporting animal products like deer skins and elephant ivory, while trading in Venetian chandeliers, Persian rugs, Indian textiles, as well as Chinese porcelain, silks, and tea.

Ayutthaya was named after “the invincible city” of Ayodhya in northern India, birthplace of the deity Rama — incarnation of Vishnu — according to the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana. The capital was known as Judea or Iudia to the Dutch, La Ville de Siam (The City of Siam) to the French, and Yodaya to the Burmese.

“The Thai kingdom was not a single, unified state but rather a patchwork of self-governing principalities and tributary provinces owing allegiance to the king of Ayutthaya,” wrote researcher Barbara LePoer, at the U.S. Library of Congress.

A Siamese Trading Ship from Ayutthaya, depicted in the Japanese Tosen No Zu (Scroll of Foreign Ships) (circa 1720). In the collection of the Matsuura Historical Museum in Nagasaki. Photo by Jun Kimura (color-corrected and cropped).

Vue de Siam (View of Siam), depicting Chinese vessels, print, by Frans Xaver von Habermann (circa 1760). Via the Museum De Lakenhal (color-corrected and cropped).

Maison d’un Siamois (A Siamese House), etching, from Du royaume de Siam (The Kingdom of Siam) (1691). Via the Collections Bibliothèques Municipales de Chambéry (cropped).

Life in Ayutthaya

The Siamese capital utilized advanced water management systems, featuring a grid of roads, moats, and canals. In preparation of monsoon season’s annual flooding, houses were constructed on stilts and every household owned at least one boat. Author of the 17th century Description of the Kingdom of Siam, Jeremias van Vliet observed, “During high water boats can cross most of the streets and even reach the houses.”

View of the VOC Trading Post (lower left) with Ayutthaya in the distance (upper right), from the book Les Voyages du sieur Albert de Mandelslo (The Travels of Sir Albert von Mandelslo), engraving (1707). Via the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (cropped).

Ayutthaya was a cosmopolitan metropolis. According to Sir Johann Albert von Mandelslo, 400,000 families resided within the city and its surroundings, totaling one million people, of which three-quarters were Siamese. The remaining inhabitants were comprised of as many as 40 different ethnic groups from lands near and far, including China and Persia.

The French ambassador Chevalier de Chaumont wrote, “There is no city in the Orient where one sees so many different nationalities as in the capital city of Siam and where one speaks so many different languages.”

Notable foreign residents included the Japanese samurai Yamada Nagamasa and the Greek adventurer Constantine Phaulkon who became counselor to King Narai (Ramathibodi III).

Monks alone totalled 20,000 people. While in the previous capital of Sukhothai, “the king was revered as a father by his people,” explained Barbara LePoer, “the paternal aspects of kingship disappeared at Ayutthaya … behind a wall of taboos and rituals.” According to Van Vliet, the King only appeared in public once a year, in an annual procession to visit the Wat Mahathat (Temple of the Great Relic).

Vue et Description de la Ville de Siam (View and Description of the City of Siam), colored engraving, by Henri Abraham Chatelain (circa 1720). Via Stockholms Auktionsverk (color-corrected and cropped).

U-Thong had declared Buddhism the official religion of Ayutthaya. The faith was crucial to maintain social order, promoting the divine right of the king and later justifying all social hierarchy. Education was taught by monks, and reserved exclusively for boys — though women enjoyed great freedom, including the ability to own land and property.

Engraving likely depicting the annual public appearance of the Siamese King with elephant procession, from the book Naukeurige Beschryvinge van het Koningryck Siam (Description of the Kingdom of Siam), by Jeremias Van Vliet (1692). Via Invaluable.com (edited and cropped).

Since inception, the Siamese Kingdom suffered labor-shortages, with King Ramathibodi II establishing a formal caste system in 1518, called sakdina (ศักดินา). Translated simply as “feudalism,” sakdina made explicit the social division between the nai (patron nobles) and phrai (peasant men).

All Siamese men were required to register with the government. During peacetime, phrai were obligated to serve the nai — under the king’s command — for three to six months of the year, and during wartime, phrai were conscripted into the military. Wealthier phrai were able to offer various commodities or money instead of labor service. Siamese society also included a class of that, outright slaves.

According to Van Vliet, “most of the inhabitants are very devout and superstitious heathens.” Yet, despite the importance of Buddhism, Ayutthaya was remarkably accommodating. Over 160 days of the year were devoted to celebrations from a variety of cultures, with a total 15 dedicated to Songkran, the traditional new year.

Siamese monks confirmed, “one can come into heaven in various religions,” notes Van Vliet. “However their own religion is the best of all.”

Under the pretext that French missionaries sought to convert the dying King Narai to Christianity, court official Phetracha orchestrated a coup in 1688. As king, Phetracha expelled French troops from the city, further consolidated royal power, and granted the Dutch a monopoly on trading rights.

Established in 1602, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) had built Ayutthaya’s first permanent trading office in 1608, leading to the development of a nearby Dutch village with 1,500 inhabitants. Competing with the Portuguese, Spanish, and the French, the Dutch were the principle European traders in the city and surviving Dutch records offer invaluable information for historians today.

A contemporary depiction of the sacking of Ayutthaya, mural detail of the panorama at the National Memorial of Thailand, by Preecha Thaothong and students (1992-95). Photo-composite by Danny With Love. Via the National Memorial and Khaosod English.

Centers of Power in Thailand and Surrounding Nations (13-18th centuries). Adapted by Danny With Love from the 1941 book Thailand : A Country Study by Barbara LePoer. Via the U.S. Library of Congress.

The Burmese Sacking of Ayutthaya

Ayutthaya was thought to be impenetrable as “the yearly inundation by the river would force [armies] to leave the plains,” explained Van Vliet, but the Toungoo dynasty had successfully invaded Ayutthaya in 1569, and reduced Siam to a Burmese vassal state under the rule of Maha Thammaracha. His son, the young Prince Naresuan, was taken to Burma as hostage.

Sculpted by Chin Prasang and dedicated in 1999, the bronze equestrian statue of the King Naresuan Monument is surrounded by sculptures of powerful roosters, as popular myth claims young captive Naresuan successfully wagered a bet with the Burmese Crown Prince that Ayutthaya would be freed if his animal won their cockfight, Ayutthaya, Thailand (2023). Photo by Danny With Love.

After his release — as king — Naresuan declared Siam’s independence, ultimately killing the Burmese Crown Prince in a dramatic elephant duel in 1593.

Naresuan is still revered today as the only king in Thai history to defeat the Burmese army. His victory is commemorated every January as Royal Thai Armed Forces Day.

The 17th century ushered in the golden age of Ayutthaya. Though China was embroiled in civil war and Japan adopted isolationism, the city maintained access with merchants from both nations, while providing a safe port for international traders.

After a century without attack, Siam’s walls were allowed to decay. “In general the Siamese nation loves peace, commerce and agriculture,” wrote Van Vliet in 1692, noting, “in the whole kingdom there is hardly to be found a single well walled city or a good fort.”

Eager to reclaim Burma’s former territory, the “robber” King Hsinbyushin waged a three-year-long campaign against Ayutthaya, with a fourteen-month siege resulting in the capital’s complete annihilation in 1767, a “vandalism that is almost unmatched in Asia,” argues the British-American author and journalist Simon Winchester.

Precious stones were looted, and the entire city island was set ablaze, with fires raging for a week. Countless paintings, libraries, and archives were destroyed. As many as 30,000 captives were marched west to Burma, though a majority died of disease, exhaustion, and hunger before reaching their destination.

While neighboring armies expelled the Burmese forces within the year, the scale of the destruction was so devastating that the capital was ultimately moved downstream to the “village of the wild plum,” or Bangkok.

King Rama I sought to develop the fledgling town in Ayutthaya’s image, ordering the construction of canals, and commanding the Grand Palace to be modeled after the royal residence of the old capital. The official title of Bangkok retains the name of Ayutthaya.

King Vajiravudh, Chao Chom Suvadhana, and their entourage at Wat Mongkhon Bophit, Ayutthaya, Thailand (1924). Via the National Archives of Thailand and Google Arts & Culture (cropped).

With a height of 12.5 meters (41 feet), the bronze-gilded Phra Mongkhon Bophit (Buddha of the Holy and Supremely Auspicious Reverence) is one of the largest sculptures in Thailand, now located within a modern vihara (monastery), Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit, Ayutthaya, Thailand (2023). Photo by Danny With Love.

Today

Today the Ayutthaya district is home to some 160,000 people, with the local economy reliant on a combination of tourism and industrial manufacturing. There is also an illicit network of antique smuggling, as the ruins are too vast to protect properly.

The old capital provided the unified foundation for modern Thailand and the historic city lives on in the hearts and minds of Thai people, many who still maintain a grudge against Burma — now called Myanmar — for the capital’s destruction.

Journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk writes, “Some Thais still wonder how many kilograms of pure gold coating the 105-meter-tall Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar, must have been taken from Ayutthaya and melted down.”

Following the life of the prince destined to restore Siam’s independence, the 2007 historical drama Kingdom of War: The Legend of King Naresuan (ตำนานสมเด็จพระนเรศวรมหาราช) directed by Chatrichalerm Yukol remains one of the nation’s highest-grossing films. The patriotic trilogy was funded by the government with approximately $20 million U.S. dollars — the most expensive Thai production at the time — with the first film alone earning $10 million.

While sakdina was formally abolished in 1932 as a result of the military coup, many scholars argue that its legacy persists, such as in the general public’s deferential treatment of the royal government and the successful transition to “Thai bureaucratic capitalism.”

In his landmark 1980 thesis, economist Sungsidh Piriyarangsan described Thailand’s neo-feudal system — consisting of centralized land-holding, monopolized trade, and limited reinvestment — as a fundamental obstacle to the disruption of international capital, resulting in low productivity, sluggish growth, and limited social mobility for the masses.

The new ruler, Luang Phibunsongkhram renamed the Kingdom of Siam as Thailand in 1939, with the word Thai (ไทย) both meaning “free man” and referring to the nation’s dominant ethnic group. Phibun promoted the nationalist idea of “Thailand for Thai people [only]” (ประเทศไทยเพื่อคนไทย), while creating economic and immigration policies to limit the influence of foreigners, particularly Chinese residents.

Excavations of Ayutthaya began in earnest during the 20th century, with, the new government agency, Fine Arts Department registering Ayutthaya as an important historical site for exploration and preservation in 1935.

Famously, Ayutthaya’s Wat Ratchaburana (Temple of Royal Restoration) was looted in 1957. Thieves raided an underground chamber, which protected gold crowns, swords, jewelry, and statues, weighing a total 136 kilograms (300 pounds).

Afbeldinge der Stadt Iudiad Hooft des Choonincrick Siam (Depiction of the City of Iudiad, Capital of the Kingdom of Siam), watercolor painting, by Johannes Vingboons (circa 1665). Via Wikimedia (color-corrected).

Siam ou Iudia, Capitalle du Royaume de Siam (Siam or Iudia, Capital of the Kingdom of Siam), engraved by Jean de Maguelonne de Courtaulin (1686). Via the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (cropped).

Map of Ayutthaya in the 21st century with major attractions, digital illustration, by Charinrat Thaipradit (2016). Via Behance.

In 2005, guilt-ridden local Li Kasemsang came forward as one of the looters, admitting, “I felt bad because those treasures belonged to the king and I don’t want to violate the monarchy.” Li explained, “I was poor; I had no job.” Less than 20% of the haul was ever recovered.

The looting inspired the construction of the first national museum outside of Bangkok, the Chao Sam Phraya National Museum, founded in 1961.

By 1991, an area of 289 hectares (1 square mile) within Ayutthaya was inscribed by UNESCO as a world heritage site, with hopes to expand the property to better facilitate conservation of the old capital. Excavations are ongoing.

The Wat Phu Khao Thong (Golden Mount Temple) features two different styles, with the incomplete geometric base constructed in 1579 during Burmese occupation, topped with a classic chedi (pagoda) after Siam reclaimed independence in 1584, Ayutthaya, Thailand (2023). Photo by Danny With Love.

Arguably the most famous sight in Ayutthaya, the head of a sandstone Buddha sculpture abandoned by looters sits among the ruins, with the teacher’s face miraculously uncovered by the growing roots of a Bodhi (sacred fig) tree, Wat Mahathat (Temple of the Great Relic), Ayutthaya, Thailand (2023). Photo by Danny With Love.

View of the city from the Wat Yai Chaimongkhon (Great Monastery of Auspicious Victory), which is exemplary of early Ayutthaya style, restored and re-established in 1957, serving as an active temple today, Ayutthaya, Thailand (2023). Photo by Danny With Love.

Visit

For my own visit, I opted for just a day-trip, as part of a tour group, which offered the easiest transportation both to and around Ayutthaya. I booked the trip with Thailand Tour and Travel — whose office I found on Khaosan Road — for the price of 1,300 baht, or approximately $40, which included ticket entry to six temples, a local guide, transportation, and even a modest lunch.

A private van picked me up from my hotel in Silom early morning (6:30) and — after picking up other travellers — we arrived in Ayutthaya around 9:30. The tour itself lasted five hours, including lunch. While the tour guide was very knowledgeable we moved quickly, leaving at 14:30 (2:30 PM), to avoid the traffic of Bangkok’s rush hour.

The weather was perfect, the sky was beautiful, and I felt at peace. In the spirit of old Ayutthaya, I also enjoyed practicing my French and Japanese with fellow visitors!

The trip was an excellent introduction to the site, but if I were to return, I would plan to stay longer in Ayutthaya: exploring the ruins, the restored buildings of foreign settlements such as the Baan Hollanda museum and St. Joseph’s Church, and certainly the Chao Sam Phraya National Museum. Within recent years, the city has also welcomed the addition of luxury hotels and unique dining spaces.

Ayutthaya-native Nuttapon Kumsanlas hopes visitors experience Thailand’s “way of life that combines the elegance of past cultures and … the changing era.”

Posing with the reclining Buddha of the Wat Lokaya Sutha (Temple of the Earth), Ayutthaya, Thailand (2023).


Fun fact: Thailand is the only nation in Southeast Asia never colonized by a European power!