Kamphaeng Phet - Wat Phra Kaeo

Wat Phra Kaeo next to the Wat Phra That stands in what was the precinct of the royal palace. The royal temple, as opposed to a monastery, it has a number of very striking Buddha figures, standing in solitary splendor amidst the ruins. The features of the colossal figure on the high terrace of the former bot in front of a collapsed bell-shaped chedi have been totally weathered away, and another enormous Buddha in the center of the wiharn has suffered the same fate. The serried ranks of the smaller figures around this statue have been eroded into Giacometti-like shapes, their head, limbs and body assuming abstract lines as the stucco has broken off to leave just the slender laterite torso. One reclining Buddha in particular is worth seeking out since the head has retained all the clarity and sensitivity of expression of the beautifully sculpted features. Around the base of the big bell-shaped chedi there are fragments of the original 32 lions and some of the 16 niches in the upper section still contain Buddhas. There is a brick footprint of Buddha at the end of the compound.