The monastery on the Bang Pakong that the whole province turns up at, built five ordination halls deep around one stucco-covered Buddha image that two state bodies cannot agree the height of.
วัดโสธรวรารามวรวิหาร · Wat Sothon Wararam Worawihan
By the BAANLYY Editorial Team · Last checked 30 October 2026
| Official name | วัดโสธรวรารามวรวิหาร — Wat Sothon Wararam Worawihan |
|---|---|
| Where | Na Mueang, Mueang Chachoengsao, Chachoengsao |
| Royal temple class | Third class royal temple, Worawihan (ชั้นตรี ชนิดวรวิหาร) Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Thailand Tourism Directory attraction record 1680, which states the elevation to a third-class royal monastery of the worawihan type on 8 August B.E. 2501; the Chachoengsao provincial office of the National Office of Buddhism independently names it a royal monastery but states no class |
| Monastic order | Not recorded in any register we could read. |
| Ancient monument | Registered national ancient monument Royal Gazette vol. 71, part 3, 5 January B.E. 2497, Chachoengsao section, item 2 The 1954 instrument is the first national list of ancient monuments and it works differently from every later one in this guide: instead of a site plan it gives four bearings in sen and wa — north 6 sen 6 wa, south 5 sen 10 wa, east 4 sen 3 wa, west 3 sen 1 wa — and a total of 21 rai 42 sq wa, which is what the register still carries. The Chachoengsao section has two items and the other is the city wall. |
| Coordinates | 13.673679, 101.066691 Fine Arts Department national monument register, monument 0000834; checked against the register's own subdistrict polygon layer, which returns Na Mueang (240101), the subdistrict the register and the 1954 gazette entry both state |
Thai temple histories mix two different kinds of statement, and this guide keeps them apart. What a register, a gazette entry, an inscription or a dated royal act shows is one thing. What the chronicles and the temple itself hold is another, and it is worth telling as what it is.
Two state bodies place the image here at different times and neither reconciles with the other: the Fine Arts Department sets the monastery in the reign of King Narai, while the Ministry of Tourism and Sports puts the image in the monastery around B.E. 2313, in early Thonburi — a gap of roughly a century. Both are written as assumptions in their own sources.
Everything at Wat Sothon is arranged around one seated image, and the monastery has rebuilt itself five times rather than move it. The Fine Arts Department's register describes Luang Pho Phuttha Sothon as a stucco image in the meditation posture, 1.65 m across the lap and 1.48 m high, in a Lan Xang hand. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports gives the same lap width and a height of 1.98 m. Half a meter is not a rounding difference, and neither body footnotes the other. If you want to know how tall the image is, the honest answer today is that the Thai state publishes two numbers.
The name moved three times before it settled. The monastery began as Wat Hong, after a pole in the grounds with a hamsa carved on top. The bird fell off and somebody tied a flag to the bare pole, so it became Wat Sao Thong, the flagpole temple. The pole then broke in two and it became Wat Sao Thong Thon. The present name comes from the image rather than the grounds: Sothon carries the sense of pure and of holy. The 1954 gazette list still registers the place under the old name, Wat Hong, which is why a search for the registration under the modern name finds nothing.
The ordination halls are the real history here, and the provincial government counts five. The first was a timber pavilion. The second went up in B.E. 2416 and is attributed to Phraya Wiset Ruechai, whose given name was Chang and who governed Chachoengsao — an attribution that rests not on a temple record but on a silver plate inscribed and sealed inside the great chedi at Wat Phayak Intharam, three kilometers away and also in this guide. The third was raised in B.E. 2469 by Major General Phraya Suranat Sanoe, who commanded the division at what is now Si Sothon camp, and was pulled down in B.E. 2497. The fourth was finished in B.E. 2499 because the crowds had outgrown the third.
The fifth is the one visitors walk into now, and it was built over the fourth without the image being moved at all. The Fine Arts Department's record says so plainly: modern engineering, the new hall raised around the old one, Luang Pho Sothon and the eighteen images beside it left where they stood. King Bhumibol laid the foundation stone with Princess Sirindhorn on 19 January B.E. 2531 and returned on 5 September B.E. 2539 to raise the golden finial; the work finished in B.E. 2549. The painted ceiling fixes that second date in the building itself — the stars are set to their positions at the hour of the finial ceremony.
Luang Pho Phuttha Sothon, seated in the meditation posture under the central canopy, 1.65 m across the lap by both state measurements and either 1.48 m or 1.98 m high depending on which state measurement you read.
The eighteen other Buddha images that shared the old small hall with it and were never moved either — they are the reason the fifth hall had to be built over the fourth rather than beside it.
The painted interior, which runs from floor to ceiling as one scheme: the Sithandon ocean, the four guardian kings, the Tavatimsa heaven, the Brahma worlds, and a star field on the ceiling set to the positions of 5 September B.E. 2539.
The white nine-spired hall itself, 85 m on a side in the published plan and visible from the far bank of the Bang Pakong long before you reach the gate.
The riverfront, where the yearly procession puts the image on a barge — the Bang Pakong is not scenery here, it is the reason the monastery exists in this spot.
This is a working place of worship for millions of people rather than an attraction, and it is treated as one at the gate. Where a figure below is blank, no source we are prepared to cite states it.
| Hours | Not established from an official source. |
|---|---|
| Admission | Not established from an official source. |
| Dress | A working monastery and the province's main place of worship. Cover shoulders and knees; shoes come off at the hall door. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | Thepkhunakon Road in Na Mueang, on the Bang Pakong about 2 km from the town center. Chachoengsao is on the eastern railway line from Bangkok and the state tourism record lists bus, rail, car, motorcycle, bicycle and foot access, with parking for about a thousand vehicles. |
Every temple reference repeats claims nobody has checked. These are the ones we went looking for and could not stand up, listed so you know exactly where this page stops.
Two state bodies publish two answers. The Fine Arts Department register gives 1.65 m across the lap and 1.48 m high; the Ministry of Tourism and Sports gives 1.65 m across the lap and 1.98 m high. The lap width agrees, the height does not, and neither source acknowledges the other.
Yes. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports' attraction record states that it was raised to a third-class royal monastery of the worawihan type on 8 August B.E. 2501. The Chachoengsao provincial office of the National Office of Buddhism names it a royal monastery in its own copy without giving a class.
No state source read in this run gives a year. The Fine Arts Department register places it in the late Ayutthaya period, in the reign of King Narai, under its older name Wat Hong. The gazette registration of 1954 records no date either. Anyone quoting a precise founding year is quoting something other than the record.
They could not be confirmed from an official source. The state tourism directory's record for this monastery prints 20:00 to 05:15 daily, which is not plausible as opening hours, and nothing else official read in this run states any. Check locally before planning a visit around a specific time.
Because it is the fifth. The provincial government counts a timber pavilion, a hall of B.E. 2416, one of B.E. 2469 that was demolished in B.E. 2497, one finished in B.E. 2499, and the present hall, which was raised over the fourth without moving the image. The foundation stone was laid in B.E. 2531 and the work finished in B.E. 2549.
Before you go, read the guide to Buddhism and temple etiquette in Thailand — dress, footwear, where photography is not welcome and how to behave around monks. The rest of Chachoengsao’s temples are covered here too.
Every temple here sits in a place worth reading about on its own terms. The nationwide temple guide covers the other provinces to the same documentary standard as this page, and says on each one what the record establishes and what it does not.
If you are thinking about more than a visit: work out which Thai visa route fits your situation, and see what is available to rent and buy in residences across Thailand.
Last checked 30 October 2026
Every fact on this page is drawn from the sources above. Where they disagree, this page says so rather than choosing silently. Registrations, fees, hours and access change; confirm anything you are relying on with the authority concerned. BAANLYY LLC is a Nevada company and a listing portal, does not represent any temple, and offers no legal or religious advice.