Wat Chong Nonsi - Rare Look At One Of The Oldest Temples In Bangkok - Thailand 2023

Wat Chong Nonsi is an Ayutthaya era temple. It’s located in the Chong Nonsi Subdistrict of Bangkok. It’s very near the Chao Phraya River on the east side.Show more

The temple is thought to have been founded in 2119 of the Buddhist calendar or 1586 AD (437 years ago).

The Fine Arts Department registered it as an important national historical site. In 1979, the temple's Ubosot was opened to visit on Makha Bucha Day. Visakha Bucha Day and Ajarha Bucha Day. These are the only times it will be opened to the public. The site also has had some theft of valuable Buddha objects making it even harder to be allowed inside.

The story of how the temple was named is very interesting.

The name "Chong Nonsi" is derived from a folklore titled "Legend of Lord Uthong" (ตำนานท้าวอู่ทอง). It is said that, Lord Uthong (not to be confused with King Uthong of Ayutthaya) and his wife with his soldiers escaped from Uthong because of cholera. During his journey, he took a rest at a place near a river, they pretended that they were not royal family and he asked his wife to take off her tiara for their own safety. The place that they took a rest was called "Bang Ratklao" (บางรัดเกล้า, "a place where a tiara was taken off") and was later changed to "Bang Kachao" as today. Lord Uthong commanded his soldiers to tie a rope and make a raft to cross the Chao Phraya River. While he was making his way across the river, cholera was rapidly chasing him by climbing the rope. He decided to cut the rope to get rid of cholera. The Lord and his wife settled down at a village for a long time after so that area was name "Chong Nang Ni" (ช่องนางหนี, "a channel that lady escaped"). It is later called "Chong Nonsi".

Another folklore is a story of the original name of Wat Chong Nonsi. There was a lady who escaped from the Burmese army invading Ayutthaya. She secretly hid herself in a Buddhist temple and survived. As a result, people called this temple "Wat Nang Ni" (a temple where a lady hid herself). It was later called "Wat Chong Nonsi".

The temple is one of the oldest existing temples in Bangkok. It is relatively unknown and not normally visited by toursits. The highlight of the temple is the existing murals from the Ayutthaya kingdom era in the ordination hall. We were very lucky to get a rare look inside.

Enjoy the video!

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