The Phra Pradaeng monastery whose mondop stands out over water, built by the official who oversaw the new town of Nakhon Khuean Khan in the Second Reign.
วัดโปรดเกศเชษฐาราม · Wat Prot Ket Chettharam
| Official name | วัดโปรดเกศเชษฐาราม — Wat Prot Ket Chettharam |
|---|---|
| Where | Song Khanong, Phra Pradaeng, Samut Prakan |
| Royal temple class | Third class royal temple (พระอารามหลวงชั้นตรี) The Samut Prakan provincial government's own page on the monastery gives the grade as พระอารามหลวงชั้นตรี. No source read this run states the ชนิด, the sub-rank within that grade, so subRank is left null rather than inferred from the name. |
| Monastic order | Not recorded in any register we could read. |
| Ancient monument | Not established. |
| Coordinates | 13.667546, 100.528765 ONEP cultural-environment register, site 5499 — the coordinate falls inside Song Khanong, 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 were read for this monastery, so its ancient-monument status is left open rather than inferred from ONEP's cultural-environment listing, which is a separate instrument with a separate purpose.
Wat Prot Ket Chettharam sits at Song Khanong in Phra Pradaeng, about two hundred metres from Wat Phaichayon Phonsep and built for the same reason. ONEP's cultural-environment register names the builder as Phraya Phet Phichai — personal name Ket, of the Ketthat family — who raised it while serving as overseer of the new town of Nakhon Khuean Khan, and dates the work to B.E. 2365 (1822), in the Second Reign. The Samut Prakan provincial government gives the same man in the same office. Both, in other words, are describing an administrator building a monastery inside a state project, which is what Phra Pradaeng as a whole was.
The ordination hall is the clearest example in this province of a deliberate architectural choice that is regularly mistaken for damage. It has no cho fa and no bai raka — none of the ornamental finials that a Thai roof normally carries — and the provincial government's description makes the point explicitly. That is the Chinese manner the Third Reign made standard, in which the roofline is left plain and the decoration moves down onto the walls. Here the walls carry stucco vine-work set with blue-and-white ceramic, and the principal image inside, Phra Phuttha Chinnat Satsada, sits in the maravijaya posture.
The building the monastery is known for, though, is the mondop standing out over water. The provincial government describes it as a Thai structure in the chedi form with twelve indented corners — yo liam mai sip song — and records that it houses replica Buddha footprints inlaid with mother of pearl. ONEP's account of the compound adds a Chinese-style wall enclosing both the ordination hall and the vihara, and a small chedi at one corner, and describes the whole group as characteristic early Rattanakosin work.
The vihara beside it holds a reclining Buddha, and the provincial government notes that its window paintings show Western influence in the way the dharma symbols are handled — a detail worth taking seriously rather than as a flourish, because a Second Reign monastery at the river mouth was precisely where European visual habits arrived first. ONEP classifies the site under its general heading for temples and religious structures and last revised its entry in December 2020; the monastery is active, and the provincial government records it as open to visitors from eight in the morning until half past four.
The ordination hall without cho fa or bai raka — the plain Chinese-manner roofline, which is a choice of period and not a loss.
Stucco vine-work on the facade set with blue-and-white ceramic, and the principal image Phra Phuttha Chinnat Satsada in maravijaya.
The mondop standing out over water, in the twelve-indented-corner chedi form, housing replica Buddha footprints inlaid with mother of pearl.
The reclining Buddha in the vihara, and window paintings whose handling of the dharma symbols the provincial government describes as Western-influenced.
A Chinese-style wall enclosing the ordination hall and the vihara together, with a small chedi at one corner.
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 Song Khanong subdistrict, Phra Pradaeng district, on the Phra Pradaeng peninsula, a short walk from Wat Phaichayon Phonsep. |
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.
ONEP's cultural-environment register names Phraya Phet Phichai, personal name Ket, of the Ketthat family, who raised it while overseeing the building of the new town of Nakhon Khuean Khan in the Second Reign. The register dates the work to B.E. 2365 (1822), and the provincial government names the same builder.
Because it was built without them. The plain roofline is the Chinese manner that became standard in the Third Reign, in which the ornament moves from the roof down onto the walls. Here it appears as stucco vine-work set with blue-and-white ceramic.
A mondop in the twelve-indented-corner chedi form, which the Samut Prakan provincial government records as housing replica Buddha footprints inlaid with mother of pearl. It is the feature the monastery is best known for.
Not as far as this page can show. The Fine Arts Department register and the Royal Gazette were both unreachable for Samut Prakan during this run, so no registration is claimed. ONEP lists the monastery in its cultural-environment register, which is a different instrument and is not registration.
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.