A community monastery at Ao Luek whose gilded relic chedi, given by the provincial office as roughly 95 metres, is the tallest religious structure in Krabi — a royal name conferred in 2006 on a temple established in 1940.
วัดมหาธาตุวชิรมงคล · Wat Maha That Wachiramongkhon
| Official name | วัดมหาธาตุวชิรมงคล — Wat Maha That Wachiramongkhon |
|---|---|
| Where | Na Nuea, Ao Luek, Krabi |
| Royal temple class | Not established from an official register. |
| Monastic order | Maha Nikaya |
| Ancient monument | Not established. |
Na Nuea, Ao Luek, Krabi
The exact location has not been confirmed yet.
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.
Wat Maha That Wachiramongkhon stands at Moo 3, Na Nuea subdistrict, in Ao Luek district, about forty minutes north of Krabi town, and it is the largest thing of its kind in the province by a wide margin. The Krabi provincial office of the National Office of Buddhism records its establishment in B.E. 2483 (1940) under the name of the village it served, Wat Bang Thong, and the grant of its ordination boundary in B.E. 2496 (1953). It is a วัดราษฎร์ — a community monastery, not a royal one — of the Maha Nikaya order, and the local name is still what most people in Ao Luek use.
The present name came much later and from the highest possible source. The provincial office records that King Bhumibol Adulyadej conferred the name Wat Maha That Wachiramongkhon in B.E. 2549 (2006). That is a distinction worth reading carefully, because it is frequently confused with royal-monastery status and is not the same thing. A royally conferred name is an honour granted to a specific temple; elevation to พระอารามหลวง is an administrative change of class in the national register of monasteries. This temple has the first and not the second, and the provincial office is explicit that it remains a community temple. Any description of it as a royal temple is wrong.
What earned the name is the chedi. The provincial office gives its height as approximately ninety-five metres and records that it was built to mark the fiftieth birthday of the Crown Prince, who is now King Vajiralongkorn. It is a gilded structure on a square plan with galleries running along all four sides, lined with Buddha images, and it dominates the Ao Luek landscape in a way nothing else in Krabi does — visible across the flat rice ground from a considerable distance, with the limestone karst behind it.
The temple is also a working meditation centre rather than only a monument, and the provincial office maintains a separate entry for its practice centre. Its abbot, Phra Thep Wachirakon — Phra Ajahn Chai Purinthako — is recorded by that office as a deputy ecclesiastical governor for Region 17, which places the temple inside the formal administrative structure of the southern sangha rather than at the edge of it. For a monastery established in a village in 1940, that is a considerable rise in eighty years, and it is the more interesting story here than the height of the chedi.
The gilded chedi, given by the provincial office of the National Office of Buddhism as roughly 95 metres tall and built to mark the fiftieth birthday of the then Crown Prince. Galleries run along all four sides at the base, lined with Buddha images. It is the tallest religious structure in Krabi and is visible across the Ao Luek plain.
The setting, which is the argument for coming here rather than the architecture: flat agricultural land with the Ao Luek limestone karst rising immediately behind the temple, so that a very tall gilded chedi is seen against grey rock.
The meditation centre, which the provincial office of the National Office of Buddhism lists separately from the temple entry. This is a working practice centre under an abbot who holds administrative office in the regional sangha, not a display.
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 community monastery and meditation centre. Shoulders and knees covered, shoes off in the ordination hall and on the chedi terraces. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | Moo 3, Na Nuea subdistrict, Ao Luek district, roughly 40 kilometres north of Krabi town on the route towards Phang Nga. Still widely signposted and referred to locally as Wat Bang Thong. |
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.
No, and this is the most common error made about it. The Krabi provincial office of the National Office of Buddhism records it as a วัดราษฎร์, a community monastery of the Maha Nikaya order. What it has is a royally conferred name, granted by King Bhumibol Adulyadej in B.E. 2549 (2006). A conferred name is an honour to one temple; royal-monastery status is a class in the national register, and the temple does not hold it.
The Krabi provincial office of the National Office of Buddhism gives approximately 95 metres, which makes it the tallest religious structure in Krabi province. That figure is attributed here rather than stated flatly because published heights elsewhere differ and no measured figure from a building authority was found. The same office records that it was built to mark the fiftieth birthday of the then Crown Prince, now King Vajiralongkorn.
Because the first one was the village's. The provincial office of the National Office of Buddhism records the temple's establishment in B.E. 2483 (1940) as Wat Bang Thong, after the settlement it served, and the conferral of the name Wat Maha That Wachiramongkhon by King Bhumibol Adulyadej in B.E. 2549 (2006). Both names remain in use and local signage and directions still commonly use Wat Bang Thong.
Not old. The provincial office of the National Office of Buddhism registers its establishment as B.E. 2483 (1940) and the grant of its ordination boundary as B.E. 2496 (1953), and the chedi that people come to see is later still, raised to mark the then Crown Prince's fiftieth birthday. This is a twentieth-century monastery and the interest in it is its scale and its rise, not its antiquity.
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 Krabi’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.
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.