The third-class royal monastery of Roi Et town, and the standing Buddha image that the provincial motto names as the province's symbol.
วัดบูรพาภิราม · Wat Burapha Phiram
| Official name | วัดบูรพาภิราม — Wat Burapha Phiram |
|---|---|
| Where | Nai Mueang, Mueang Roi Et, Roi Et |
| Royal temple class | Third class royal temple, Saman (ชั้นตรี ชนิดสามัญ) The Public Relations Department's Roi Et provincial office states the grade verbatim: วัดบูรพาภิราม เป็นพระอารามหลวงชั้นตรี ชนิดสามัญ. Read in Thai rather than through a summary, because a summarising read of exactly this field promoted a third-class grade to first class on another page of this guide. |
| Monastic order | Not recorded in any register we could read. |
| Ancient monument | Not established. |
| Coordinates | 16.061881, 103.658461 ONEP cultural-environment register, site 2191, which gives 16.061881 N, 103.658461 E for วัดบูรพาภิราม at ตำบลในเมือง อำเภอเมืองร้อยเอ็ด. Checked against that district and subdistrict and against the street address the Office of Buddhism publishes. |
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.
The temple and the image on its grounds are dated separately here. The Office of Buddhism and DASTA both put the standing Buddha at B.E. 2516 (1973), some sixty years after the temple itself, and it is the image rather than the temple that the province's motto names.
Wat Burapha Phiram stands at 559 Thanon Phadung Phanit on the eastern side of Roi Et town, beside the line of the old city moat. Its beginnings are modest and well recorded: the Roi Et provincial office of the National Office of Buddhism gives its establishment as B.E. 2456 (1913) under the name Wat Hua Ro, and both that office and DASTA tell the same story of how it was called that — a place where traders and travellers on the road stopped overnight. A later abbot enlarged it and it took the name Wat Burapha, the eastern temple, for its position relative to the town, and then Wat Burapha Phiram.
It is a royal monastery of the third class and of the ordinary kind — พระอารามหลวงชั้นตรี ชนิดสามัญ — which is the grade the provincial Public Relations Department states in those words. That is the middle of the royal ladder rather than the top of it, and the distinction matters: a third-class royal monastery is a temple the crown has recognised and supports, not one of the great first-class foundations of Bangkok or the old capitals. No state source read here gives the year of its elevation or the monastic order it belongs to, so neither is printed.
What brings people is the image. Phra Phuttha Rattana Mongkhon Maha Muni, known locally as Luangpho Yai, is a standing Buddha of reinforced concrete raised in B.E. 2516 (1973). The Office of Buddhism gives its height as 59 metres 20 centimetres from the feet to the top of the ushnisha, and 67 metres 85 centimetres overall; DASTA gives the same two figures. How it is described differs between state bodies in a way worth knowing. The Public Relations Department calls it the tallest Buddha image in the blessing-granting posture in Thailand — พระพุทธรูปปางประทานพร — while the Office of Buddhism simply calls it the tallest in Thailand. Those are not the same claim, and only the narrower one is qualified by posture.
The image works as a building as well as a figure: you can go up inside the base, where DASTA records a set of museum rooms. It is also the one monument in Roi Et that a visitor without a vehicle can actually reach, since it sits on the edge of the municipality rather than out on the plain, and it is what the provincial motto means when it names the renowned tall Buddha image among the things Roi Et is known for.
Phra Phuttha Rattana Mongkhon Maha Muni, the standing Buddha in the blessing-granting posture, 59.20 metres from feet to the top of the ushnisha and 67.85 metres overall by the Office of Buddhism's figures, built of reinforced concrete.
The interior of the image's base, which DASTA records as holding museum rooms and which visitors can walk up inside.
The line of the old Roi Et city moat immediately beside the temple — the reason the temple is where it is, and the eastern edge of the old town.
The temple grounds themselves, given as about 29 rai, which is large for an in-town monastery and is what makes room for a monument of this scale.
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 | 08.30 to 16.30 every day, including public holidays, per DASTA's CBT Thailand entry: เวลา 08.30-16.30 น. ของทุกวันรวมวันหยุดนักขัตฤกษ์. |
|---|---|
| Admission | Thai nationals: free. Foreign visitors: 0 baht. |
| Dress | No dress rule is published for the temple. It is a working royal monastery, where the ordinary Thai convention applies: shoulders and knees covered, and shoes off inside any hall. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | 559 Thanon Phadung Phanit, Tambon Nai Mueang, Mueang Roi Et district, on the eastern side of the provincial town. Walkable or a short tuk-tuk ride from the centre — the only one of this province's temple pages that does not need a vehicle. |
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 Roi Et provincial office of the National Office of Buddhism gives 59 metres 20 centimetres from the feet to the top of the ushnisha, and 67 metres 85 centimetres overall. DASTA's entry gives the same two figures independently, which is as close to a settled measurement as this province offers. Figures a little under 67.85 metres circulate widely for the overall height and are not what either state source publishes.
It depends which state body you read. The provincial Public Relations Department describes it as the tallest Buddha image in the blessing-granting posture in Thailand, which is a claim qualified by posture. The provincial Office of Buddhism describes it as the tallest in Thailand, without that qualification. Neither sources the superlative, and this guide does not settle it.
A third-class royal monastery of the ordinary kind — พระอารามหลวงชั้นตรี ชนิดสามัญ — in the words of the provincial Public Relations Department. That is a recognised and supported temple rather than one of the great first-class foundations.
08.30 to 16.30 daily, including public holidays, and there is no entrance charge. Both come from DASTA's CBT Thailand entry for the temple, which is the only state source in this run that published opening times for anywhere in Roi Et.
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 Roi Et’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.