Wat Mahathat

Northeastern Thailand


The centrepiece of this city-centre temple is a highly venerated Lao-style chedi said to date from AD 695 that enshrines holy relics of Phra Anan (Ananda), the Buddha’s personal attendant monk. Much more interesting, however, is the restored hŏr đrai (a building for storing Tripitaka Buddhist scriptures) dating from the 1830s that sits on stilts in a pond to protect the sacred scripts from termites. It’s been restored and is kept open so people can go inside (shoes off).