The riverside temple south of Wat Yai, with three-headed nagas running along the eaves of its ordination hall, a nine-bay Sukhothai wihan on round laterite columns, and murals from the reign of Rama IV in which the Ramakian runs above a register of scenes the National Office of Buddhism says are found in no other temple.
วัดราชบูรณะ · Wat Ratchaburana
| Official name | วัดราชบูรณะ — Wat Ratchaburana |
|---|---|
| Where | Nai Mueang, Mueang Phitsanulok, Phitsanulok |
| Royal temple class | Not established from an official register. |
| Monastic order | Not recorded in any register we could read. |
| Ancient monument | Registered national ancient monument Read directly from the Fine Arts Department's register in this run: monument id 0004621, status line โบราณสถานขึ้นทะเบียนและกำหนดเขตที่ดินโบราณสถาน, register status 5 on the department's GIS layer — registered, with the monument's land boundary determined. No gazette citation is printed because none was opened for this temple. Two of its neighbours were registered in vol. 53, part 34 of 27 September B.E. 2479 and it is a reasonable guess that this one was in the same wave, but a guess is not a citation and none is given here. |
| Coordinates | 16.822091, 100.261037 Fine Arts Department, FADGIS monument layer, monument id 0004621, read in WGS84 in this run |
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.
Ratchaburana means a royal restoration, and every account here is working backwards from that word to a king. That is an inference from a name, not a record, and this guide keeps it on the tradition side. It is also worth being blunt that the contradiction is inside a single state page: the tourism authority attributes the temple to a fifteenth-century king in one paragraph and to a fourteenth-century restoration of an older Sukhothai foundation in the next. There is a second and much more famous Wat Ratchaburana at Ayutthaya, which this guide carries separately.
Wat Ratchaburana stands on the east bank of the Nan, south of Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat and directly across the road from Wat Nang Phaya. The National Office of Buddhism records that this compound and Wat Nang Phaya were contiguous until Mittraphap Road was cut through, which separated them; anyone reading older descriptions of a single large temple area here is reading about the ground before the road.
The most distinctive thing about the compound is a roofline. The ordination hall carries three-headed nagas along the eaves, moulded with a lightness that both the tourism authority and the National Office of Buddhism single out. Inside it, the principal image is a gilded Sukhothai-style Buddha in the attitude of subduing Mara called Luang Pho Thong Suk, two metres across the lap and three metres high.
The murals are the other reason to go in, and they are dated. The tourism authority puts them in the reign of King Mongkut and attributes them to local hands rather than court painters. The Ramakian runs in the upper register. Below it is a band of amorous scenes which the National Office of Buddhism describes in its own words as not found in any other temple — an unusual thing for a government office to publish about an ordination hall, and a real feature of the building rather than a curiosity someone invented.
The wihan is a separate building and a different century's idea of one. The National Office of Buddhism describes it as brick and plaster on the song-rong plan with nine bays, in Sukhothai manner, with round laterite columns inside and a stucco Sukhothai-style Buddha in the attitude of subduing Mara as its principal image. The chedi luang is a Lankan bell on a stack of octagonal terraces with smaller chedis around it — visible, the office notes, from the far bank of the river.
How old any of it is remains genuinely open, and the sources make that harder rather than easier. The name means a royal restoration, so everyone starts from the assumption of a king and then chooses one: Borommatrailokkanat, because he governed here for twenty-five years and did more for the religion in Phitsanulok than anyone; or Lithai, on the theory that the temple is a Sukhothai foundation he restored, which would explain the name in a different way; or nobody in particular, in the National Office of Buddhism's flat assertion that the temple is a thousand years old. This page prints the murals' date, which is documented, and leaves the rest where the sources left it.
The three-headed nagas along the eaves of the ubosot — the feature both state sources reach for first, and the reason the building is recognisable from the road.
Luang Pho Thong Suk, the principal image in the ubosot: gilded lacquer over a Buddha in the attitude of subduing Mara, Sukhothai in style, two metres across the lap and three metres high, per the tourism authority.
The murals of the reign of Rama IV: the Ramakian in the upper register, and below it a band of amorous scenes which the National Office of Buddhism describes as found in no other temple.
The wihan: brick and plaster, the song-rong plan of nine bays in Sukhothai manner, round laterite columns inside, and a stucco Buddha in the attitude of subduing Mara in Sukhothai style as the principal image.
The chedi luang: a round Lankan bell standing on octagonal terraces stacked in tiers, with smaller chedis around it, and visible from the opposite bank of the Nan.
The sala kanparian, where the National Office of Buddhism records that relics are enshrined, alongside a small community museum — and where the Phra Nang Phaya amulets found next door are offered.
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 | Not established from an official source. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | Tambon Nai Mueang, Mueang Phitsanulok 65000, on the east bank of the Nan south of Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat and across the road from Wat Nang Phaya. It is a short walk from Wat Yai and the two are usually seen together. |
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.
The sources give three different answers and none of them cites a document. The Tourism Authority of Thailand says on one page both that it is believed to date from the reign of Somdet Phra Borommatrailokkanat, who governed from Phitsanulok for twenty-five years, and that it is presumed to be a Sukhothai foundation first restored under Phraya Lithai. The National Office of Buddhism says the temple is a thousand years old and gives no source. What is actually dated here is the mural cycle, which the tourism authority places in the reign of King Mongkut.
Two things. They are dated — the tourism authority puts them in the reign of Rama IV and reads them as local rather than court work — and the lower register is unlike anything on a comparable temple page. The Ramakian runs above; below it is a band of amorous scenes which the National Office of Buddhism itself describes as found in no other temple. That description is the state's, not this guide's.
No. That is a different temple in a different province — the Ayutthaya monument built in 1424 over the cremation site of two princes, with the painted crypt and the gold hoard, which this guide carries under Ayutthaya. Ratchaburana means a royal restoration and is a common temple name. This one is in Tambon Nai Mueang, Mueang Phitsanulok, on the east bank of the Nan.
The three-headed nagas along the eaves of the ordination hall, which are the building's signature; Luang Pho Thong Suk inside it, a gilded Sukhothai-style image two metres across the lap; the murals above and below; the nine-bay wihan on round laterite columns; and the chedi luang, a Lankan bell on stacked octagonal terraces that the National Office of Buddhism notes is visible from across the river.
No official source consulted publishes opening hours for this temple. The Tourism Authority of Thailand's page for it, checked in a rendering browser for this run, has no opening-hours block at all, and this guide does not copy a time from a travel site. It is an active temple beside Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat and is usually visited in the same walk.
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 Phitsanulok’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.