Lopburi, Thailand

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Towering over the impressive scenery north of the town is Khao Wong Phra Chan, recognizable by the three jagged peaks that form its summit.

By car: Highway 1 from Bangkok which makes a big loop, and one that is highly recommended, via Saraburi (see entry) and Wat Phra Buddhabat (about 153 km (95 mi.)). The alternative is via Ayutthaya - Highway 32 to just before Singburi then 311 to the east.

By rail: about 2 hours on the Bangkok-Chiang Mai line (133 km (83 mi.) from Bangkok).

By bus: regular service from Bangkok Northern Bus Terminal (3 hours).

Lopburi, or Lavo as it was then called, is supposed to have been founded in 468 by King Kalavarnadis of Taksila. Until about 950 it was the capital of the great Mon kingdom of Dvaravati, the name given it in the part Mon, part Sanskrit inscriptions on coins and stone tablets. This kingdom stretched north-east from the Menam plain to the Mekong and lasted until the 11th c. when the Khmer, under their king Suryavarman I (1002-50), captured large parts of what is now Thailand. Lopburi became a Khmer fortress and the seat of a provincial governor. The Khmer style that shaped art and architecture until the 15th c. became modified by contact with Dvaravati to form the Lopburi style, a blend of the two.

Following the end of Khmer rule the land in the southern Menam plain was occupied by the Thai king, Si Dharmatraipitok. The kings of Lopburi ruled the kingdom for about a hundred years then power was assumed by various different royal houses, including the Burmese King Annarudha and the Thai King U Thong who, when he moved his seat in 1350 from U Thong to Auyutthaya, installed his son, Prince Ramesuen, as Governor of Lopburi.

The city was of strategic importance in the fighting with the kings of Sukhothai. When this became a vassal state in 1376 and then part of Ayutthaya in 1438 Lopburi lost its importance, only regaining it when the city experienced a new heyday in the reign of King Narai (1656-88). Ten years after coming to the throne Narai chose to adopt Lopburi as his second capital alongside Ayutthaya. It was less prone to flooding but at the same time, with the river, had a guaranteed water supply for city and palace alike. When Ayutthaya, close to the Gulf of Thailand, was threatened by a Dutch naval blockade Narai moved temporarily to Lopburi and built a palace here, an interesting mixture of Thai and European styles.

As king, Narai also opened up towards Europe, establishing diplomatic relations with France. He received King Louis XIV's ambassador, the Chevalier de Chaumont, and it is to his reports that we owe much of what we know about Lopburi. The king also appointed the Greek ambassador, Constantine Phaulkon, to serve as his adviser. When the king died in 1688 his Minister of War Luang Sorasak, later King Petracha, seized the throne, murdering Phaulkon and many of his predecessor's other supporters, local traders and the French diplomats among them. Not liking Lopburi he returned to Ayutthaya, abandoning the palace to dilapidation and ruin. This lasted until the 19th c. when King Mongkut (1851-68) ordered the restoration of the only still relatively well preserved building in the palace precinct, the Chanthara Phisan pavilion, and erected new palace buildings, some of which can be seen today and have been made into interesting museums.