A city temple whose old ordination hall is the finest surviving sim of the Ubon craft school, registered on its own in 1980 and given the Association of Siamese Architects' first prize for religious-building conservation in 1987. The Indra-on-Erawan figure that crowned its gable is gone.
วัดแจ้ง · Wat Chaeng
| Official name | วัดแจ้ง — Wat Chaeng |
|---|---|
| Where | Nai Mueang, Mueang Ubon Ratchathani, Ubon Ratchathani |
| Royal temple class | Not established from an official register. |
| Monastic order | Maha Nikaya |
| Ancient monument | Registered national ancient monument Royal Gazette vol. 97, part 163, p. 3621, 21 October B.E. 2523 ประกาศกรมศิลปากร เรื่อง ขึ้นทะเบียนโบราณสถาน, made under section 7 of the Act B.E. 2504, announced on 2 September B.E. 2523 by เดโช สวนานนท์ as Director-General, published at เล่ม ๙๗ ตอนที่ ๑๖๓ หน้า ๓๖๒๑ on 21 October, and read by eye from the scan in this run. It registers โบราณสถานวัดแจ้ง ตำบลในเมือง อำเภอเมืองอุบลราชธานี and names the thing registered in a single line — สิ่งสำคัญ คือ ๑. โบสถ์เก่า, the old ordination hall — at ๑ ไร่ ๑ งาน ๔๙ ตารางวา. The register's land parcel carries 1-1-49 and codes the row at status 5. The department's own description text separately says the department registered the building in B.E. 2527, four years after the instrument; the instrument is the record and 2527 is not. |
| Coordinates | 15.237026, 104.860568 Fine Arts Department register, monument 0001904 |
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 department's own record gives two different dates for the ordination hall in the same paragraph — B.E. 2455 in its schedule of buildings and 'about B.E. 2545' in the sentence describing the sim, which cannot be right for a building registered in B.E. 2523. This page uses 2455 and says why. There is no Tourism Authority page for this temple and no other state source was found that dates it.
Wat Chaeng stands on Thanon Sapphasitthiprasong in Tambon Nai Mueang, inside the city, and one building in it is the reason it is in this guide. The Fine Arts Department's registration instrument of 1980 does not register the temple. It registers สิ่งสำคัญ คือ ๑. โบสถ์เก่า — the important thing being, one, the old ordination hall — and draws a boundary of one rai, one ngan and forty-nine square wa around it.
The department dates the temple's establishment to B.E. 2418 and its วิสุงคามสีมา, the royal grant of ordination-boundary land, to B.E. 2436. The hall itself it dates to B.E. 2455, six metres by fourteen. The rest of the temple is later and ordinary: a preaching hall of B.E. 2527, ten monks' kuti of which five are timber and five masonry, two concrete funeral pavilions. The principal image measures 2.20 metres across the lap and 3.35 metres high, in brick and mortar, with ten smaller principal images beside it, and there is an old preaching throne with a busabok top.
What the hall is, in the department's description, is a สิมทึบ — a closed sim, under central-Thai influence rather than the open Isan form — of brick and mortar, three bays, with a front porch and a single entrance and three windows. The window frames carry pendant honeycomb work with matching carved balusters below them. The porch roof stands on four round columns carrying the gable board, with pendant honeycombs hanging between all three bays.
One detail of the carving is worth the visit on its own, and it is a technique rather than a motif. The krachang on the gable were carved as separate pieces of timber and then applied to the surface, rather than being cut down into the wood. The effect the department describes is that they stand proud of the ground behind them instead of sinking into it. The lower field is carved with phutthan flowers made the same way.
At the top of that gable there was a figure of Indra riding the three-headed Erawan. The department records it in the past tense: แต่สูญหายไปแล้ว — but it has been lost. The same figure survives in place on the gable of the ordination hall at Wat Thung Si Mueang, a kilometre away, which is the nearest thing to a picture of what is missing here.
The roof history is dated. It was originally covered with timber shingles; in B.E. 2493 that was changed to hook-tile; in B.E. 2513 damaged roofing was repaired to make it last, and the department believes the upper timber ornament was restored at the same time. The cho fa, the ngo and the hang hong are in the Ubon craft-school form, which the department says was much liked. The stair is flanked by crocodiles with their heads turned downward, lying in wait as guardians.
The department is candid about where the building is plain. Its base is an ew khan bua form by ordinary local hands; its brackets are roughly carved by comparison with other Isan sim; the gable carving is full but simple, which the department suggests is because it avoids the bright colour of the modern taste. That is a description of a good building rather than a great one, and it is more useful than praise.
The recognition came in B.E. 2530, when the Isan Architects Commission of the Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage gave the temple first prize for outstanding conservation of a religious building, and Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presented the certificate at the Sathapanik '30 exhibition in Bangkok. After a further restoration in B.E. 2546 the department records the whole structure as sound. BAANLYY does not represent this temple and nothing here is legal or religious advice.
The old ordination hall — a closed sim of brick and mortar, three bays, with a front porch, one entrance and three windows. This is the registered monument; the rest of the temple is not.
The window frames, with pendant honeycomb work above and carved balusters of the same pattern below.
The gable: krachang carved as separate pieces of timber and applied to the surface, so that they stand proud of it rather than sinking in, with phutthan flowers made the same way in the lower field.
The empty finial at the top of that gable, where a figure of Indra on the three-headed Erawan once stood. The Fine Arts Department records it as lost.
The cho fa, ngo and hang hong, which the department identifies as the Ubon craft-school form rather than a central-Thai one.
The stair, flanked by crocodiles whose heads turn downward — guardians lying in wait, in the department's phrase.
The principal image inside: 2.20 metres across the lap and 3.35 metres high, in brick and mortar, with ten smaller images and an old preaching throne with a busabok top.
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 temple in the city centre. Shoulders and knees covered, shoes off before the ordination hall, and the registered building is a small one — a visit is a matter of looking closely rather than walking round. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | Thanon Sapphasitthiprasong, Tambon Nai Mueang, Amphoe Mueang Ubon Ratchathani, per the Fine Arts Department register. No official telephone number for this temple was found in this run. |
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.
No, and this is the trap. There is a Wat Chaeng in Amphoe Bang Khla, Chachoengsao, known for its yaksha figures and a Thai-Chinese ordination hall, and it is the temple the Tourism Authority of Thailand's page under the bare Thai name วัดแจ้ง belongs to. This is a different temple in the city of Ubon Ratchathani, more than five hundred kilometres away, with its own registration instrument and its own history. Chaeng means dawn, and temples of that name are common.
One building. The instrument of 2 September B.E. 2523, published at Royal Gazette vol. 97, part 163, page 3621 on 21 October and read from the scan for this page, registers โบราณสถานวัดแจ้ง and then names the thing itself: สิ่งสำคัญ คือ ๑. โบสถ์เก่า — the old ordination hall — with a boundary of 1 rai 1 ngan 49 square wa. The rest of the temple is not a registered monument.
Because of how it is carved and because it survived. The Fine Arts Department describes a closed sim under central-Thai influence whose krachang were cut as separate pieces of timber and applied to the gable, so that they stand proud of the surface rather than being incised into it, with pendant honeycomb work over the windows and matching balusters below. In B.E. 2530 the Isan Architects Commission of the Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage gave it first prize for the conservation of a religious building, and Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presented the certificate at the Sathapanik '30 exhibition.
A figure of Indra riding the three-headed elephant Erawan, which crowned the finial. The Fine Arts Department records it in the past tense — แต่สูญหายไปแล้ว, but it has been lost — and does not say when or how. The same motif survives in place on the gable of the ordination hall at Wat Thung Si Mueang, about a kilometre away, which is the closest thing to a picture of what stood here.
Not established. No official source read for this page publishes opening hours for this temple, and the reason is specific rather than an oversight: the Tourism Authority of Thailand has no page for it at all. A keyword search of the Authority's own site for วัดแจ้ง อุบลราชธานี returns nothing, and its page under the plain Thai name belongs to the Chachoengsao temple. It is a working city temple, so the ordinary daylight hours of any such temple are the reasonable expectation, but this page will not print a time that no state source publishes.
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 Ubon Ratchathani’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.