Ayutthaya Historical Park
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How it came to be
Ayutthaya was founded around 1351 by King Ramathibodi I on an island ringed by three rivers with a way to the sea. As the second capital of Siam after Sukhothai, it flourished from the 14th to the 18th century. It was a planned city with a grid of roads, canals and moats and a careful system of water management.
The city exchanged envoys with courts including Versailles, Delhi, Japan and China, and grew into one of the largest and most cosmopolitan cities of its time. Burmese forces took it in 1569 but did not sack it. On 7 April 1767, after a siege of fourteen months, it fell again, its palaces and temples were burned, and the capital was never rebuilt on the same site.
The Fine Arts Department began restoring the ruins in 1969, and the site was declared a historical park in 1976. An area of 289 ha, including Wat Mahathat, Wat Phra Si Sanphet and Wat Ratchaburana, was inscribed in 1991.
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