Historical sites

As always with history, it is difficult to know when to begin.The further you go, the more you find. For instance, primitive stone tools some 30,000 years old have been found in Krabi province in the south.

One can, however, say that a civilized culture, indicated by evidence of burial sites discovered near Tham Phra (Monk’s Cave) in Kanchanaburi province, was present in Thailand at least as far back as 12,000 years in the past.

The first truly distinctive local culture to emerge from these early beginnings was Ban Chiang, perhaps 5,000 years ago. Its elegant pottery with its beautiful designs is now world famous.

The next major cultural development in the region was the absorption of Indian influenced which eventually produced Angkor Wat and the Khmer civilization. As that waned, interaction between the newly arrived Thai people and the Khmers produced a distinctive culture based on the rich alluvial plain of Sukhothai. 

The Sukhothai kingdom lasted less than 200 years. It was replaced by the breathtaking grandeur of the Ayutthaya kingdom, which, at its height some 300 years ago, was the most powerful state in Southeast Asia.

Ayutthaya was ruthlessly sacked by the Burmese in 1767. Not even all its wealth or defenses were sufficient to prevent its downfall. Its successor, Rattanakosin, the present period in Thai cultural history, is to a large extent a perpetuation of Ayutthaya’s illustrious lagacy of absorbing outside influences and through modification making them into something entirely new. This unfurling process is fascinating to watch, and by no means near its culmination.

Sukhothai : Coner stone of Thai Culture Thailand’s contributions to the world’s cultural heritage have been recognized as World Heritage Sites since 1991. Sukhothai, with its sister cities, Si Satchanalai to the north and Kamphaeng Phet to the south were where Thai  history really begins when King Ramkhamhaeng first used a written script, a gentle religion, and a clear royal code of law to unify the scattered Thai tribes into a nation.

This is also where Thai artisans developing their own architectural and artistic traditions to replace the hitherto predominant Khmer Bayon style. The heavy all-stone symbolic monuments and Hindu Shrines gave way to the light, spacious masonry and wood structures of the soon-to-be-typical Thai Buddhist temple.

Ayutthaya :  City of the golden age : This capital of a truly fabulous kingdom for 417 years built on what Sukhothai had begun and carried it onward with remarkable flair and panache. It also set the standards for Bangkok to follow.

Ayutthaya was established at the confluence of three rivers at the heart of extensive flood plain therefore the waterways gave access to commerce from all over the world. The city nurtured a spectrum of artistic styles. Foreign influences are clearly visible at St Joseph’s Church, a Catholic house of worship for 300 years, Chinese-style hexagonal chedi at Wat Mahathat, and the European arches at Wat Phra Si Sanphet etc.

Ban Chiang :  Dazzling prehistory The world already knows of Thailand’s third major contribution to world culture, Ban Chiang pottery. The sites of this prehistoric civilization lie just 50 kilometers east of the provincial capital of Udon Thani. At Thailand’s first open museum at Wat Po Si Nai in the modern village, the Fine Arts Department has retained the conditions of the archaeological excavations where the pots first came to light. They were buried along with other items as part of the ancient civilization’s funeral rites.