# Wat Phra Singh: the revered heart of Chiang Mai's Old City

> Wat Phra Singh is Chiang Mai's most revered temple — a royal sanctuary founded in 1345, home to the Phra Singh Buddha and the gilded Wihan Lai Kham.

At the far western end of **Ratchadamnoen Road**, where the market crowds thin and the Old City quietens, stands the temple most Chiang Mai people will name first if you ask them which is dearest: **Wat Phra Singh**, or to give it its full title, **Wat Phra Singh Woramahawihan**. It is the grandest and most revered of the temples inside the square moat, and one of the loveliest examples of Lanna craft anywhere in the north. Here is what makes it special, and how to visit it with the respect it asks for.

## A royal temple founded in 1345

The temple was founded in **1345** by King **Phayu**, the fifth ruler of the Mangrai dynasty, to house the ashes of his father, King Kham Fu, brought down from Chiang Saen. From those origins it grew into one of the most important religious sites of the **[Lanna kingdom](/blog/lanna-kingdom-history)**, and in **1935** it was raised to the rank of a *royal temple of the first grade* — the highest a Thai temple can hold, which is what the *Woramahawihan* in its name signifies. If you are working your way through the **[Old City's temples](/blog/old-city-temples-chiang-mai)**, this is the one to give the most time to.

![Wat Phra Singh: the revered heart of Chiang Mai's Old City](/blog/wat-phra-singh/visual.webp)

## The Phra Singh image, and a gentle mystery

The temple takes its name from the **Phra Singh** Buddha — properly the **Phra Buddha Sihing** — a serene seated image in the slender Lanna style, deeply venerated and the focus of countless prayers for good fortune. Here is the gentle mystery: there are **three** near-identical images in Thailand — in Chiang Mai, in **Nakhon Si Thammarat** and in the National Museum in Bangkok — and each is held by its keepers to be the true original. No one can prove which is which, and in truth it hardly matters; for the people of Chiang Mai, theirs is *the* Phra Singh, and the devotion it draws is unmistakable. To understand why a single image can carry so much meaning, our note on **[Thai Buddhism](/blog/understanding-thai-buddhism)** is a good place to start.

## Wihan Lai Kham: gilded woodwork and famous murals

The Phra Singh image sits in the temple's jewel: the **Wihan Lai Kham**, a small, perfectly proportioned assembly hall raised in the early nineteenth century. Its name means roughly *the hall of the golden pattern*, and the gable and interior carry exactly that — intricate gilded **woodwork** and stencilled gold on deep red lacquer, glowing in the low light. But the treasures most visitors come for are the **murals** painted on the side walls around the mid-1800s. They illustrate two old Jataka-style tales — the story of **Sang Thong**, the prince born in a golden conch, on one wall, and **Suwannahong** on the other — yet what makes them priceless is the everyday Lanna life painted into the margins: market scenes, costumes, tattoos, foreigners and flirtations, a candid window onto Chiang Mai nearly two centuries ago. Take your time here; they reward slow looking.

## The golden chedi and the scripture library

Out in the grounds stand two more things worth pausing over. The elegant golden **chedi**, bell-shaped and wrapped in gleaming plates, holds the relics the temple was built around. Nearby is the **ho trai**, the scripture library — a delicate teak pavilion lifted high on a stuccoed masonry base and dressed with celestial figures, raised up so the palm-leaf manuscripts inside stayed safe from damp and termites. It is one of the prettiest small buildings in the city. The main **Wihan Luang** and the ordination hall complete the ensemble, every roofline tiered and tilted in the unmistakable Lanna manner you will also recognise at **[Wat Chedi Luang](/blog/wat-chedi-luang)** a few streets east.

![Wat Phra Singh: the revered heart of Chiang Mai's Old City](/blog/wat-phra-singh/visual-2.webp)

## When the Phra Singh comes out: Songkran

Once a year, the Phra Singh leaves its hall. During **[Songkran](/blog/songkran-chiang-mai)**, the Thai new year in mid-April, the image is carried in solemn procession through the streets so the faithful can sprinkle it with scented water — a blessing for the year ahead, and the spiritual heart of a festival most visitors know only for its water fights. If you are in town in April, it is well worth seeking out this quieter, devotional side of the celebration.

## Visiting well: location, dress and the monk chat

You will find Wat Phra Singh at the western end of **Ratchadamnoen Road**, the same street that fills with the **[Sunday Walking Street](/blog/sunday-walking-street)** market each week, so the two pair easily. There is a **small entry fee or donation** for the main halls, and the grounds are open through the day — do check current hours locally. As at any working temple, **cover your shoulders and knees** and slip your shoes off before stepping into a hall; a quick read of our **[etiquette notes](/blog/thai-etiquette-for-visitors)** will see you right. Most afternoons you will also find the **monk chat**, where novice monks practise their English and field questions about robes, meditation and temple life — gentle, unhurried and genuinely two-way; our guide to the **[monk chat](/blog/meditation-monk-chat-chiang-mai)** explains how it works. Come early if you can, before the heat and the crowds, and let the gold and the quiet do their work.