Walking due west from Tha Phae Gate along the ceremonial spine of Ratchadamnoen Road through the heart of Chiang Mai's moated old city, pilgrims arrive directly before a whitewashed gateway guarded by twin sculpted Singha lions. Beyond the broad forecourt, sweeping tiers of dark teakwood roofs trimmed with gilded flame bargeboards frame a gleaming white bell stupa crowned in burnished gold against the mountain sky.
This is Wat Phra Singh Woramahawihan (วัดพระสิงห์วรมหาวิหาร), the foremost First-Class Royal Monastery within historic Chiang Mai. Gathering nearly seven centuries of bronze casting, gilded woodwork, narrative mural painting, and celestial stucco relief, this Buddhism sanctuary of the Theravada tradition enshrines Northern Thailand's revered Phra Buddha Sihing icon and stands as the lifelong pilgrimage stupa for everyone born in the Year of the Dragon.
IPhra Buddha Sihing and the Lanna Birth-Year Reliquary of the Dragon
The spiritual heart of the monastery is Phra Buddha Sihing (พระพุทธสิหิงค์, affectionately revered across the North as Phra Singh), enthroned inside an ornate gilded wooden pavilion within the historic Viharn Lai Kham chapel in the southwestern precinct. Cast in gilded bronze in the canonical Chiang Saen Sing Nueng (First Lion) idiom of early classic Lanna sculpture, the Buddha sits in full adamantine lotus posture (Vajrasana) with both soles upturned upon a petaled lotus throne, displaying a serene full-cheeked countenance, a broad lion-like torso, a compact lotus-bud finial atop the cranial protuberance, and his right hand resting over the knee in the earth-touching gesture (Maravijaya).
Rising immediately beside the chapel, the whitewashed and gold-sheathed main stupa Phra That Luang holds a cherished rank among Northern Thailand's Twelve Sacred Birth-Year Reliquaries (Phra That Pracham Pi Koet). In the traditional Lanna zodiac where the fifth animal sign is Pi Marong (the Year of the Great Naga or Dragon), Wat Phra Singh's central stupa serves as the earthly counterpart of the celestial Chulamani Stupa in Tavatimsa Heaven for all persons born under the Dragon sign, drawing lifelong merit-making pilgrimages from across Thailand.
The epithet Sihing (from Pali Sihala, referring to Sri Lanka) embodies the orthodox Sinhalese lineage prized across mainland Southeast Asian Theravada courts. According to the early fifteenth-century Pali chronicle Tamnan Phra Buddha Sihing composed in Chiang Mai by the elder Bodhiramsi, the original statue was cast in Lanka from the eyewitness memory of a long-lived Naga king who had beheld Sakyamuni Buddha in life, and was later obtained via diplomatic mission by King Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai. Enshrining Phra Singh at the head of Chiang Mai's royal avenue proclaimed the Mangrai kings as rightful northern guardians of pure Lankavamsa Dhamma.
Thai art history recognizes three revered bronze statues in three regions each bearing the royal title Phra Buddha Sihing: one here at Wat Phra Singh in Chiang Mai, one in the Buddhaisawan Chapel of the Bangkok National Museum, and one in Nakhon Si Thammarat in the South. Northern chronicles relate that when King Saen Muang Ma escorted the statue from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai around 1400, the ceremonial chariot axle snapped directly outside the gate of Wat Li Chiang Phra. Interpreting the halt as an auspicious omen, the king enshrined the icon inside the monastery, which townspeople henceforth called Wat Phra Singh. In 1922 thieves broke into Viharn Lai Kham and severed the statue's head, prompting an intense investigation and careful restoration that preserved the venerated image for northern devotion.
Many visitors stepping through the eastern lion gate walk straight into the massive front hall Viharn Luang, bow before its towering gilt Buddha, and leave assuming they have seen Phra Buddha Sihing. In reality, the giant statue presiding inside Viharn Luang is Phra Chao Thong Tip (also titled Phra Si Sanphet, cast in 1477). To venerate the authentic Phra Buddha Sihing and admire the famous nineteenth-century murals, visitors must walk past Viharn Luang toward the rear southwestern corner beside the white main stupa to enter the smaller, exquisitely carved Viharn Lai Kham.
IIFrom King Pha Yu's Marketplace Monastery to Kruba Srivichai's Twentieth-Century Revival
Growing from a mid-fourteenth-century royal funerary stupa beside a bustling city market, Wat Phra Singh reflects nearly seven hundred years of Lanna dynastic patronage, late-eighteenth-century recovery, and modern northern monastic renewal.
- 1345 to 1347King Pha Yu raises the main stupa for his father's ashes and founds Wat Li Chiang PhraIn 1345 (BE 1888), King Pha Yu (fifth ruler of the Mangrai Dynasty) builds a 23-wa bell stupa to inter the cremated ashes of his father King Kham Fu brought from Chiang Saen, adding monastic halls two years later and naming the temple Wat Li Chiang Phra after the adjacent town market.
- Late 14th century (circa 1400)Arrival of Phra Buddha Sihing and renaming as Wat Phra SinghKing Saen Muang Ma brings the sacred Phra Buddha Sihing from Chiang Rai and enshrines it at the temple, inspiring townspeople across Lanna to call the sanctuary Wat Phra Singh.
- 1477Casting of the great Phra Chao Thong Tip image during Lanna's golden ageAmid fifteenth-century monastic flourishing in Chiang Mai, the monumental gilt-copper alloy statue Phra Chao Thong Tip is cast to preside in the main assembly hall.
- 1782 to early 19th centuryKing Kawila and the Chet Ton princes restore the abandoned compoundAfter two decades of wartime abandonment, King Kawila and his royal successors refurbish the central stupa, complete the gilded Viharn Lai Kham with its narrative tempera murals in the 1820s, and restore the stucco-relief Ho Trai library.
- 1924Venerable Kruba Srivichai and Prince Chao Kaeo Nawarat rebuild Viharn LuangFinding the ancient four-porched assembly hall decayed beyond salvage, Northern Thailand's revered monk-builder Kruba Srivichai joins Prince Chao Kaeo Nawarat and public donors to construct the grand present-day Viharn Luang.
- 1935 and 1940National Monument registration and elevation to First-Class Royal MonasteryThailand's Fine Arts Department registers the temple as a National Monument in 1935, and on November 23, 1940 King Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII) elevates Wat Phra Singh to a First-Class Royal Monastery (Woramahawihan).
An 1820s visual encyclopedia on the teak walls of Viharn Lai Kham. When Chiang Mai's Chet Ton rulers commissioned master Lanna painters in the 1820s to adorn the interior walls of Viharn Lai Kham, the artists depicted two beloved classical tales: Sang Thong (Prince of the Golden Conch) along the northern wall and Suwannahong along the southern wall. Rather than painting distant mythic backdrops, the workshop rendered authentic nineteenth-century Chiang Mai life in mineral pigments, preserving rare visual documentation of stilted timber palaces, hand-woven tube skirts, traditional male thigh tattoos (Sak Khon), marketplace stalls, musicians, and Ping River barges.
IIIViharn Lai Kham, the Celestial Ho Trai Library, and the Two-Entrance Ordination Hall
Where nearby Wat Chedi Luang awes visitors through sheer ruined masonry height, Wat Phra Singh stands as Northern Thailand's finest intact ensemble of classical Lanna carpentry, gold-on-vermilion stencil lacquerware, stucco sculpture, and harmonious courtyard planning.
Tucked in the southwestern compound, this late-fourteenth- to early-nineteenth-century teak chapel displays sweeping three-tiered eaves, pierced gilt-wood pediments, and a richly stenciled crimson-and-gold rear sanctuary (Lai Kham) patterned with sacred Hamsa swans, dragons, and lotus scrolls around the throne of Phra Buddha Sihing.
Set near the front right gate, a carved multi-roofed teakwood pavilion sits high atop a whitewashed masonry plinth designed to shield palm-leaf Pali manuscripts from floods and insects. High-relief stucco figures of standing and flying celestial beings (Thewada) in fifteenth-century Lanna-Sukhothai royal attire grace every bay of the base.
Originating in 1345, the main reliquary rises from an octagonal stepped base with four projecting stucco elephants into a pure whitewashed bell dome crowned by burnished gilded copper sheets. Immediately north stands the five-tiered stepped-pyramid Kulai Chedi recalling ancient Mon Hariphunchai prototypes.
Positioned on a north-south axis between the main stupa and Viharn Lai Kham, the 1806 wooden Ubosot features twin symmetrical entrances at opposite ends (Song Sangkha), historically allowing monks and female devotees or novices to approach the central gilded Prasat shrine from separate portals.
Measuring 56 meters long by 24 meters wide facing the eastern lion gate, Kruba Srivichai's reconstructed hall unites massive teak roof trusses and swan-tail finials over the fifteenth-century gilt-bronze Phra Chao Thong Tip Buddha.
| Feature | Specifications and historical data | Verified source |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation and original name | Founded in 1345 (BE 1888) by King Pha Yu as Wat Li Chiang Phra | Chiang Mai Chronicle, Fine Arts Department of Thailand |
| Palladium Buddha statue | Phra Buddha Sihing (Phra Singh), gilded bronze in Chiang Saen Sing Nueng style, housed in Viharn Lai Kham | National Museum Thailand, Tamnan Phra Buddha Sihing |
| Viharn Luang dimensions | 56 m long by 24 m wide, rebuilt in 1924 under Kruba Srivichai, housing Phra Chao Thong Tip (cast 1477) | Fine Arts Department of Thailand |
| Lanna zodiac affiliation | Sacred Birth-Year Reliquary Stupa for the Year of the Dragon (Pi Marong, the Great Naga) | Chiang Mai Provincial Cultural Office |
| Official heritage status | National Monument (1935), First-Class Royal Monastery Woramahawihan (Nov 23, 1940), UNESCO Tentative (2015) | Royal Thai Government Gazette, UNESCO |
IVThe Lie of the Land
Within Chiang Mai's historic square citadel measuring roughly 1.6 kilometers on a side, Wat Phra Singh commands the supreme western terminus of the city's ceremonial east-west boulevard. The section below reads the sanctuary's siting through the library's comparative framework of traditional East Asian landform geomancy.
Situated at 18.7888 degrees north, 98.9812 degrees east, Wat Phra Singh rests inside the western city wall and moat near Suan Dok Gate right at the eastern foot of sacred Mount Doi Suthep. Viewing the 1,676-meter Doi Suthep massif on the west as the ancestral mountain dragon sending vital terrain energy down into the basin, Wat Phra Singh occupies the primary receiving node immediately inside the western rampart where mountain poise settles onto level ground.
Its defining urban masterstroke is a pure sitting West, facing due East alignment locked directly onto Ratchadamnoen Road, the royal processional avenue running straight as an arrow for over a kilometer from Wat Phra Singh's twin-lion gate through the center of town to eastern Tha Phae Gate and onward toward the Ping River. That unobstructed eastern corridor acts as an expansive crimson-phoenix bright hall funneling the first golden rays of dawn directly across the forecourt onto Viharn Luang and the gilded bell stupa, while the western city wall and Doi Suthep shield the sanctuary's back. Commanding the western mountain gate while gazing down the entire royal thoroughfare, Wat Phra Singh naturally anchored Chiang Mai's state religious life for centuries.
VSongkran Procession of Phra Buddha Sihing and Year-of-the-Dragon Pilgrimage
Home to hundreds of resident monks and novices studying Pali scriptures, Wat Phra Singh serves year-round as the ceremonial stage for Chiang Mai's grandest provincial Buddhist observances under both the Northern Lanna lunar calendar and the traditional April solar New Year.
| Date | Calendar system | Observance or festival | Key rites at Wat Phra Singh |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 13 to 15 annually | Solar calendar (Lanna Pi Mai Mueang and Songkran New Year) | Grand Procession and Bathing of Phra Buddha Sihing | Phra Buddha Sihing is borne on an ornate royal float from across the Ping River along Tha Phae and Ratchadamnoen roads into the Wat Phra Singh courtyard, where tens of thousands of devotees pour jasmine- and saffron-scented lustral water over the sacred image. |
| Full moon of the 8th Lanna lunar month (Paet Peng, coinciding with the 6th Central Thai lunar month, usually May) | Northern Lanna lunar calendar | Visakha Bucha and Bathing of the Dragon Birth-Year Stupa | Pilgrims born in the Year of the Dragon gather from across Thailand to offer tall woven Lanna banners (Tung), send scented water up to bathe the golden spire of Phra That Luang, and join evening candlelight circumambulations. |
| Full moon of the 8th Central Thai lunar month (July) | Thai lunar calendar | Asanha Bucha and Khao Phansa Monastic Retreat | Hundreds of monks and novices chant the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta inside Viharn Luang while laypeople present carved beeswax Lenten candles and monsoon robes. |
| Every Sunday evening year-round | Solar calendar | Ratchadamnoen Walking Street Cultural Evening | As Chiang Mai's craft market fills Ratchadamnoen Road outside the eastern gate, the illuminated temple courtyard welcomes quiet evening prostrations and floral offerings. |
A resonant zodiac pilgrimage for Vietnamese travelers and art lovers. Because Vietnamese culture shares the twelve-animal East Asian zodiac cycle in which the Dragon holds special auspicious prestige, Lanna's custom of venerating one's personal birth-year stupa strikes an immediate chord with Vietnamese visitors. Families with loved ones born in the Year of the Dragon regularly travel to Wat Phra Singh to walk three clockwise rounds around the white-and-gold Phra That Luang stupa with white lotus buds and pause quietly before Phra Buddha Sihing inside Viharn Lai Kham.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- 2 Samlan Road, Phra Singh Subdistrict, Mueang Chiang Mai District, Chiang Mai 50200 (2 ถนนสามล้าน ตำบลพระสิงห์ อำเภอเมืองเชียงใหม่ จังหวัดเชียงใหม่)
- Getting there
- The monastery stands at 2 Samlan Road in Phra Singh Subdistrict at the western head of Ratchadamnoen Road inside Chiang Mai's walled old city, about 650 meters northwest of Wat Chedi Luang. From Chiang Mai International Airport just 4 kilometers away, taxis or red songthaew trucks reach the eastern Singha gate via Suan Dok Gate in under fifteen minutes.
- Coordinates
- 18.7888, 98.9812
Wat Phra Singh is an active First-Class Royal Monastery housing a large community of monks and young novices. Visitors must wear modest attire covering shoulders and knees throughout the grounds and remove shoes before entering Viharn Luang, Viharn Lai Kham, or the Ubosot. Inside the intimate Viharn Lai Kham, please sit with feet tucked respectfully to one side away from Phra Buddha Sihing and avoid touching the fragile nineteenth-century wall murals or timber columns.
Nearby places in the library
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?Quick Questions
Why are there three famous statues called Phra Buddha Sihing in Thailand?
Three historic bronze images in Thailand share the royal title Phra Buddha Sihing: one at Wat Phra Singh in Chiang Mai, one in the Buddhaisawan Chapel of the Bangkok National Museum, and one in Nakhon Si Thammarat. The Chiang Mai statue exemplifies the early classic Lanna (Chiang Saen Sing Nueng) style and has been revered as Northern Thailand's spiritual palladium since the late fourteenth century.
Which building at Wat Phra Singh houses the real Phra Buddha Sihing?
Phra Buddha Sihing is not in the large front hall Viharn Luang facing the main gate (which houses the 1477 Phra Chao Thong Tip statue). Instead, it is enshrined inside the smaller gilded teakwood chapel Viharn Lai Kham located toward the rear southwestern corner beside the white main stupa.
Why do people born in the Year of the Dragon make pilgrimages to Wat Phra Singh?
In Northern Thailand's Twelve Birth-Year Reliquaries tradition (Phra That Pracham Pi Koet), the main stupa of Wat Phra Singh is the earthly guardian stupa for everyone born in the Year of the Dragon (Pi Marong), making clockwise circumambulation here an auspicious lifelong devotion.
What do the famous wall paintings inside Viharn Lai Kham depict?
Painted in mineral pigments during the 1820s, the murals portray the classical tales of Sang Thong on the northern wall and Suwannahong on the southern wall, vividly set amidst authentic nineteenth-century Chiang Mai wooden architecture, textiles, markets, and river life.
What is the small elevated wooden building on the white angel-carved base near the front gate?
That structure is the Ho Trai (Tripitaka scripture library), elevated on a high masonry base to protect palm-leaf Buddhist manuscripts from moisture and termites, celebrated for its fifteenth-century stucco reliefs of celestial beings (Thewada) around the lower walls.