Si Satchanalai was a parallel city of Sukhothai, located about 70 kilometers to the north. The two cities were tightly linked, both physically and culturally. While the king ruled in Sukhothai, his crown prince governed in Si Satchanalai.
Map of Si Satchanalai Area
The area around Si Satchanalai appears to have been occupied long before the founding of the city. The archaeological finds at Wat Chum Chuen shows that people had been living here since the 3rd or 4th centuries.
While Si Satchanalai is contemporary with Sukhothai, as well as Chiang Mai, it does differ from most other cities of its time in that it is not oriented on an east-west axis. Instead, it follows the river in a roughly northwest-southeast orientation. A further unusual feature is that the city walls enclose a small ridge which roughly bisects the city.
The Si Satchanalai Historical Park encompasses the inner city within the walls, the sites at Chalieng east of the city, the kilns to the north, and some other temples to the west. At a minimum, you should visit the eastern temples as well as the inner city. As at Sukhothai, you can pay an admission fee for each area separately, for 100 Baht (), or buy an all-inclusive ticket for 220 Baht.
The excavated kilns Along the Yom River north of the walled city are the archaeological remains of several kilns. In fact, there now appears to be around 1,000 kilns on both banks of the river within 10 kilometers of the old city. This area is where Sawankhalok ceramics were produced, which became an important economic contributor to the Sukhothai kingdom. These ceramics not only served the domestic needs of the people, from food storage to water pipes, they were also produced for export, and have been found as far away the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan.
Chao Mae La-Ong Sam Lee Shrine On a ledge below the main stupa of Wat Khao Phnom Phloeng is this squat mondop. The inner shrine is perched on a high platform, and was dedicated to a local goddess. The imges inside the building was originally of the goddess, rather than a Buddha image. Now, it is empty and you'll find nothing but a pit inside.
You have to look carefully, but behind the shrine is a path that leads down the spine of the ridge to a saddle, then up to Wat Khao Suwankhiri.
The Inner City was enclosed by a stone wall pierced by six gates. Unlike Sukhothai's inner city, the walls at Si Satchanalai do not form a simple rectangle, and are not oriented to the cardinal directions. Instead, the site parallels the Yom River, and unusually, encloses a small ridge of hills that roughly bisects the city. The ridge runs just off an east-west axis, and is dotted with some impressive temples and shrines.
The "temple surrounded by elephants" is widely considered to be the very pinnacle of Sukhothai art. According to Dawn Rooney, it “skillfully amalgamates Sri Lankan and Mon influences with Sukhothai creativity.”
Wat Chang Lom The center piece of the temple is the large bell-shaped stupa which sits on a two tier square base. The first tier is lined with sculpted elephants, with larger statues at the corner. The elephants are different than those found at other Sukhothai temples, such as the Wat Chang Lom there, in that the elephants display almost full torsos, with free-standing legs.
This "temple of the seven rows of stupas" is one of the largest sites in the inner city of Si Satchanalai. It consists of a large main chedi, surrounded by 27 smaller ones. When the temple was first re-discovered by the local villagers, they uncovered many of the stupas, arranged in 7 rows, giving the temple it's name. It later turned out there were more chedis, so there are actually nine rows.
The remains of the small temple date from the Sukhothai period, although it's also thought this site was occupied by soldiers from Lanna for some time. The ruins consist of a truncated chedi along with a mondop in good condition.
Wat Chom Chuen However, the main draw here is the archaeological museum next to the temple. Excavations at this site has found evidence, including burials and ceramics, of human occupation dating back to the third or fourth centuries.
Wat Khao Phnom Phloeng According to Dawn Rooney, the name of this temple translates as "temple of the Fire-Sacrifice Mountain". I'm not sure about the "sacrifice" part, but the rest of it is accurate, altough I can't find any explanation about why the hill is called "fire mountain".
The temple is sited on top of the second-highest peak of the ridge that runs through the inner city of Si Satchanalai.
For me, this mountain-top temple is one of the most impressive in all of Sukhothai. The huge bell-shaped stupa is perched on the highest point of the ridge that runs through the middle of the old walled city of Si Satchanalai. The chedi sits on a five-tier square base.
The smaller pagoda at Wat Khao Suwankhiri Behind the large stupa is a smaller chedi, enclosed in its own boundary wall.
Wat Khok Singkharam sits just a short distance outside the southeast city walls, not far from the Yom River. The temple has a large platform that supports three bell-shaped chedis, a form that is repeated on a much grander scale in Ayutthaya. In a line with the platform are the rather significant remains of the main prayer hall.
The ruins of the prayer hall at Wat Khok Singkharam Several yards away from the main structure are the remains of the tiny ordination hall.
Wat Nang Phaya This "temple of the queen" is the first in a line of temples leading from the southeast wall up to the ridge that divides the city. It has the best remaining portion of wall that displays the intricate stucco-work that once decorated all of the temples at Si Satchanalai.
Wall decoration at Wat Nang Phaya Entering the temple from the east-southeast, you first come to the remains of the prayer hall (wiharn).
The main chapel and tower at Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat "Wat Prang", as it's called by the locals, dates from the early 13th century, making it one of the oldest temples in the Si Satchanalai area. The large corn-cob prang is a strong clue that the temple was started by the Khmers, but it was expanded and modified all through the Sukhothai and Ayutthaya periods. This is perhaps the best place to start a tour of Si Satchanalai.
Wat Suan Kaeo Utthayan Noi Wat Suan Kaeo Utthayan Noi sits off by its own to the east of the main temple group at Si Satchanalai. The remains consist of a small stupa with a slender lotus bud spire with a mondop in front. While the building is somewhat well preserved, the stucco Buddha image within is in bad condition.
Only the platform of the prayer hall remains. The temple is surrounded by a low laterite wall with entrances at the southeast and northwest ends.
Wat Suan Kaeo Utthayan Yai Of the main temples, Wat Suan Kaeo Utthayan Yai is the least well preserved. Not much remains aside from the bell-shaped stupa. You can make out the bell, but the spire is completely missing. A few columns of the prayer hall also still remain on the raised platform to the east of the chedi.
The temple was built in the early Ayutthaya period, around the fifteenth century.
