This is Lamphun’s biggest, oldest and most attractive temple compound. Haripunchai was the name of the city and the Mon Kingdom that ruled this part of northern Thailand from the 9th to 13th centuries. The towering gilded chedi, the temple’s main feature, dates from the mid-15th century, but was built over the original one from 897. Other buildings went up in the compound from 1044, but these have been replaced by those standing today. These include a few temples, a hallway housing a Reclining Buddha, monastic quarters, a gong tower and an enormous Buddha footprint.
Several other chedis also stand in the yard, usually white. One, however, the 15th century Suwanna Chedi, is a tall, thin, brick pyramid of diminishing tiers in the Mon style, inspired by those in Wat Ku Kut. Beside the main gilded chedi stands the temple library, on a red stone foundation three meters high. There’s a ticket booth at the wat’s main entrance, but they are not very insistent and most visitors ignore it,. There are also several other entrances with no booths. Parts of the compound around the main chedi require the removal of footwear.
