The principal monastery of the old walled town, a third-class royal monastery since 1982 and the seat of the provincial Office of Buddhism, holding two bronze images and a lotus-bud chedi in the Sukhothai manner.
วัดมหาธาตุ · Wat Maha That
| Official name | วัดมหาธาตุ — Wat Maha That |
|---|---|
| Where | Nai Mueang (ในเมือง), Mueang Phetchabun (เมืองเพชรบูรณ์), Phetchabun |
| Royal temple class | Third class royal temple, Saman (พระอารามหลวงชั้นตรี ชนิดสามัญ) Royal Gazette part 7 ง, p. 267, B.E. 2526 — แจ้งความกระทรวงศึกษาธิการ เรื่อง ยกวัดราษฎร์เป็นพระอารามหลวง, notified 30 December B.E. 2525, raising the monastery with effect from 27 December B.E. 2525; and the Phetchabun Provincial Office of Buddhism, which gives it as พระอารามหลวงชั้นตรีชนิดสามัญ of the Maha Nikaya order |
| Monastic order | Maha Nikaya |
| Ancient monument | Registered national ancient monument Royal Gazette vol. 52, p. 3693, 8 March B.E. 2478 — ประกาศกรมศิลปากร กำหนดจำนวนโบราณสถานสำหรับชาติ, section 23 จังหวัดเพ็ชรบูรณ์, item 2: วัดมหาธาตุ อำเภอวิเชียร ตำบลในเมือง. Two problems with that citation, and neither is resolved here. The district in the instrument is อำเภอวิเชียร, which is Wichian Buri in the south of the province, while this monastery is in Mueang Phetchabun about a hundred and thirty kilometres north; the department nevertheless cites this instrument for this monastery, so the department reads the line as referring to it. And the 1935 instrument is a departmental list published in the Gazette rather than a registration under section 7 of the Ancient Monuments Act, while the department's register codes this monument as registered. The instrument was read from the department's own scan at 500 dpi. Machine reading of 1930s Thai letterpress is imperfect, so where the scan and the structured register differ on a figure the register has been preferred. |
| Coordinates | 16.420428, 101.155492 Fine Arts Department national ancient monument register, monument 0004661 วัดมหาธาตุ, ตำบลในเมือง อำเภอเมืองเพชรบูรณ์ จังหวัดเพชรบูรณ์ |
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.
So the year on the signboards rests on a supposition the department itself labels as one, while the two dates that are documented — 1904 for the restoration and 1982 for the royal grade — are both very much later. The entry prints all three and keeps them apart.
Wat Mahathat stands inside the old earth wall of Phetchabun town, on the west side of the Pa Sak, and it is the monastery the province treats as its own. The Phetchabun Provincial Office of Buddhism has its postal address here. When the province held the rite of consecrating and celebrating holy water in July B.E. 2567, this is where it was done. It is, in the plainest institutional sense, the centre of organised Buddhism in Phetchabun, and it has been a third-class royal monastery of ordinary grade since the last days of December 1982.
Its two images are what people come for. The first is a bronze in the attitude of subduing Mara, 36 inches across the lap, which local people call Luang Pho Ngam — the beautiful one — for its proportions; the Fine Arts Department's register places it in the early Ayutthaya manner, of the third U Thong group, and it stands in the ordination hall. The second is another bronze of the same attitude and the same 36-inch lap, known now as Luang Pho Phet Mi Chai and formerly as Luang Pho Wat Mahathat. The register attributes the newer name to something said by the Chakri commander sent with royal authority to break the Burmese siege of Phitsanulok in the Thonburi reign. Whether that is history or a good story, the register presents it as the reason the name changed and not as a dated event.
The monument the monastery is registered for is the fabric rather than the images: a chedi in the lotus-bud form holding relics, two more chedis the register reads as Ayutthaya-influenced, a laterite chedi base, and sema boundary stones cut from single blocks of sandstone and inscribed in an old script. The lotus-bud form is the one thing on that list a visitor should look at twice, because it is a Sukhothai signature and it is a long way east of Sukhothai here, on the wrong side of a mountain range, in a town whose early written record is very thin.
The state's dealings with the place go back to the first national list of ancient monuments in March 1935, where วัดมหาธาตุ is the second of the three Phetchabun entries. That instrument places it in อำเภอวิเชียร, which is Wichian Buri, a hundred and thirty kilometres to the south — an address that cannot be right for this monastery and that the department's own register nonetheless cites for it. Whether the 1935 compositor carried a district down from the line above, where the ancient city of Si Thep genuinely is in Wichian, or whether something else is going on, nothing read here settles. It is printed as an open question.
The chedi in the lotus-bud form, which the Fine Arts Department's register says holds relics of the Buddha. The form is a Sukhothai signature, which makes its presence east of the range worth noticing.
Luang Pho Ngam: a bronze image in the attitude of subduing Mara, 36 inches across the lap, which the register places in the early Ayutthaya manner of the third U Thong group. It is in the ordination hall.
Luang Pho Phet Mi Chai: a second bronze of the same attitude and the same lap width, called Luang Pho Wat Mahathat until the name changed.
Two further chedis the register describes as Ayutthaya-influenced, and the laterite base of another.
The sema stones: boundary markers cut from single blocks of sandstone, carrying inscriptions in an old script that nothing read for this entry transcribes or dates.
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 royal monastery. Shoulders and knees covered, and shoes off before going into the ordination hall or any image hall. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | Inside the old town on the west side of the Pa Sak, in ตำบลในเมือง, a short walk from the centre of Phetchabun town. The Provincial Office of Buddhism is in the same compound. |
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.
Yes, a third-class royal monastery of ordinary grade. The Royal Gazette records the elevation as taking effect on 27 December B.E. 2525, and the Phetchabun Provincial Office of Buddhism gives the same grade and the Maha Nikaya order.
Not established. The register and every popular account give about B.E. 1926 and a town governor as builder, but the department labels its own dating a supposition. The two documented dates are a major restoration ordered in B.E. 2447 and the royal grade in B.E. 2525.
Two bronzes, both in the attitude of subduing Mara and both 36 inches across the lap: Luang Pho Ngam, which the register places in the early Ayutthaya manner, and Luang Pho Phet Mi Chai, formerly called Luang Pho Wat Mahathat.
Nobody knows. The instrument files วัดมหาธาตุ under อำเภอวิเชียร, which is Wichian Buri in the far south, and the Fine Arts Department cites that same instrument for this Mueang Phetchabun monastery. The discrepancy is printed here rather than quietly corrected.
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 Phetchabun’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.