It was the ancient capital of Thailand in the 14th century until it was ransacked by the Burmese in the 18th century, at which time the capital was moved to Bangkok.
In its time of promenance, there were more than 500 temples (Wats) in the area of Ayutthaya. It was a very important port of commerce & in the 16th & 17th centuries it was one of the most important trading centers in Asia. Traders from all over Asia, Europe & the Arab world would come there. The foreign traders actually had their own " 'hoods" - the King gave them land to settle on. There are still remains of the Japanese Village & artifacts from the Portuguese Village.
I did not get to see all of the ruins, as heat led to fatigue & I became quickly "watted out", as the girls & I used to say in our trip to Thailand in 1999. We could only manage to see a few of the Wats in Bangkok & Cecile coined the phrase "watted out".
You can see from the photos that the ruins are really spectacular. The colors of the bricks are so interesting. I loved how some of the ruins are leaning.
Just for info, the structures that are rounded at the top are called Prangs & the ones with pointed tops are Chedis. The Buddha's relics were stored in these structures. The entire ensemble made up a Wat...I think.
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