The second-class royal monastery beside the Pak Lat cut at Phra Pradaeng, built by the prince who later held the Front Palace, and Chinese in manner from its sandstone columns up.
วัดไพชยนต์พลเสพย์ราชวรวิหาร · Wat Phaichayon Phonsep Ratchaworawihan
| Official name | วัดไพชยนต์พลเสพย์ราชวรวิหาร — Wat Phaichayon Phonsep Ratchaworawihan |
|---|---|
| Where | Bang Phueng, Phra Pradaeng, Samut Prakan |
| Royal temple class | Second class royal temple, Ratchaworawihan (พระอารามหลวงชั้นโท ราชวรวิหาร) The Samut Prakan provincial office of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports gives the grade as พระอารามหลวงชั้นโท ราชวรวิหาร, and DASTA's CBT Thailand entry for the monastery gives the same second-class royal grade independently. The National Office of Buddhism roster itself was not reached this run. |
| Monastic order | Not recorded in any register we could read. |
| Ancient monument | Not established. |
| Coordinates | 13.667579, 100.526796 ONEP cultural-environment register, site 5498 — the coordinate falls inside Bang Phueng, Phra Pradaeng, which is the subdistrict the same record states |
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.
No Fine Arts Department register entry and no Royal Gazette announcement for this monastery were read this run, so its ancient-monument status is left open rather than inferred from its age or from its presence in ONEP's cultural-environment listing, which is a different instrument.
Wat Phaichayon Phonsep stands at Bang Phueng in Phra Pradaeng, a few hundred metres from Wat Prot Ket Chettharam and on the same piece of early nineteenth-century engineering. ONEP's cultural-environment register places its building alongside the cutting of Khlong Pak Lat — the new channel that shortened the river bend — and the raising of the fort line that was meant to hold the river mouth, and gives a date no earlier than B.E. 2362 (1819). The monastery has carried at least four names in its life. A Fine Arts Department National Library catalogue entry records it as also called Wat Krom Sak and Wat Pak Lat; DASTA adds Wat Wang Na, the Front Palace monastery, and records that the present name was given in the Fourth Reign.
Those names are the history in miniature. The founder was Krom Muen Sakdi Phonlasep, who in the following reign became the holder of the Front Palace — the uparaja, the second king — and the monastery he built beside the new cut was known by his office long before it was known by its formal title. The attribution comes from the Royal Chronicles of the Rattanakosin Era for the Second Reign, in the compilation by Prince Damrong Rajanubhab, which is the source both ONEP and the provincial tourism office cite. It is a chronicle account of a near-contemporary event rather than a dated instrument, and this page carries it as such.
The building is Chinese in manner throughout, which is what the period demanded and not an eccentricity. ONEP describes an ordination hall of brick and plaster in the Chinese style, about eight wa three sok wide and twelve wa long, with unusually heavy interior columns for a building of this province, and four associated viharas of the same manner, the largest about eight wa two sok by eleven wa two sok. DASTA adds the details a visitor notices first: green sandstone columns, Chinese lions at the heads of the stairs, water-pattern carving, and gilt Himavanta forest scenes worked on the window shutters.
The rest of the compound is documented unevenly. ONEP records a prang on a four-sided stone base, deteriorated, and a restoration paid for by women donors, without giving a date for either; and three chedis north of the ordination hall in the yo mum mai sip song form — the twelve-indented-corner plan — about four wa across the base and some fourteen wa high. The images are better recorded: a principal Buddha in the maravijaya posture carved in teak with inlay, about two sok across the lap, which ONEP calls old work of high quality; a bronze image called Luang Pho Net, one wa nine niu tall; and forty-four seated images ranged in niches along the interior of the vihara.
The ordination hall in the Chinese manner — brick and plaster, about eight wa three sok by twelve wa, with interior columns heavier than anything else of its date in the province.
Green sandstone columns and Chinese lions at the heads of the stairs, with water-pattern carving and gilt Himavanta forest scenes on the window shutters.
Three chedis north of the ordination hall in the twelve-indented-corner (yo mum mai sip song) form, about four wa across the base.
The principal image in maravijaya, carved teak with inlay and about two sok across the lap, and the bronze Luang Pho Net beside it.
Forty-four seated Buddha images set in niches along the inside of the vihara.
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 | Daily, 08:00–16:30 |
|---|---|
| Admission | Not established from an official source. |
| Dress | An active royal monastery. Covered shoulders and knees are the ordinary expectation; no dress rule specific to this monastery was published by any official source read for this page. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | At Bang Phueng subdistrict, Phra Pradaeng district, Samut Prakan 10130, on the Phra Pradaeng peninsula a short distance from Wat Prot Ket Chettharam. DASTA publishes a monastery telephone number, 0 2462 6033. |
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.
A second-class royal monastery of the Ratchaworawihan sub-rank. The Samut Prakan provincial office of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and DASTA's CBT Thailand both give the second-class grade; the National Office of Buddhism roster itself was not reached this run.
ONEP's cultural-environment register places the work with the cutting of Khlong Pak Lat and the Samut Prakan fort line, no earlier than B.E. 2362 (1819). The Royal Chronicles of the Second Reign, as Prince Damrong compiled them, attribute the foundation to Krom Muen Sakdi Phonlasep, later the holder of the Front Palace. That is a chronicle attribution, not a dated instrument.
Because the formal one came last. A Fine Arts Department library catalogue records it as also called Wat Krom Sak and Wat Pak Lat, and DASTA adds Wat Wang Na, the Front Palace monastery, noting that the name Wat Phaichayon Phonsep was bestowed in the Fourth Reign.
DASTA states that it is open daily from 08:00 to 16:30. No official source read for this page publishes an admission figure, so this guide does not state one rather than assuming entry is free.
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 Samut Prakan’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.