Wat Sothorn Wararam

THAILAND, Chachoengsao

Originally named Wat Hong, it is situated on the bank of the Bang Pakong River. Its full title is Wat Sothornwararam Woraviharn. It is thought to have been built during the late Ayutthaya Kingdom (circa 1350–1767). The temple was renamed Wat Sothorn after a Buddha statue, called Luang Phor Sothorn, was retrieved from the river and was enshrined in the temple. In 1951, it received royal designation as a Buddhist temple zone. It was given its present name and listed as a third class royal temple in 1958.
The temple occupies an area of 3,200 sq m. The main structures include the new and old ordination halls, lecture hall, and school for monastics. The new ordination hall combines the architecture of a temple and a Thai-style stupa, with its lower half functioning as a temple and the top half as a stupa. The ordination hall has a cruciform layout and is 123.5 m long and 44.5 m wide. The exterior is white and is outlined in gold, mainly on the stupa, bargeboards, hips, bracket sets, and above the windows. The pediments also have a gold design. The interior of the ordination hall is heavily decorated and the Italian marble floor is inlaid with many mythical sea creatures. It is enshrined with the Luang Phor Sothorn Buddha statue seated in full lotus position on a diamond throne, with hands in dhyana (meditation) mudra. This statue is nearly 2 m high and is surrounded by other Buddha statues of various sizes.
The stupa in the center of the new ordination hall roof is octagonal in layout and its base platform is integrated with the structure below. The stupa is approximately 84 m high from the roof to the top of the finial. The stupa body is formed of four tiers and tapers towards the top to form an octagonal cone. The first and second tiers merge with the overlapping roof ridges of the temple, which are decorated with gilded garudas. The spire is surmounted by a canopy which is 4.9 m high and made of 77 kg of gold.