Si Satchanalai - Wat Chedi Chet Theo

The seven rows of 32 stupas in differing styles and forms of the Wat Chedi Chet Theo, which housed the ashes of members of the viceroys' families, present a magnificent picture. Particularly noteworthy is the central stupa in the shape of a lotus bud in Sukhothai style (as in the Wat Mahathat in Sukhothai) and some Srivijaya style stupas, which found their way into the Sukhothai empire when King Ramkhamhaeng conquered parts of southern Thailand in the 13th c. Many of the stupas which combine a mixture of styles, erected chiefly by King Loei Thai (ruled 1347 to about 1370) around the mid-14th c., are distinctive for their elegant proportions. Fine stucco reliefs can still be seen; one for example, on the stupa in the middle of the northern row, of a beautiful meditating Buddha below a naga which shows the influence of the Srivijaya style. In a chedi in the north-west corner and in another behind the lotus bud stupa are remnants of wall paintings.