Tham Khao Luang - |
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ถ้ำเขาหลวง |
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Petchaburi is not only a province with a lot of history that has
long been reflecting local culture and lifestyle, but also has
many places of worship such as temples, in particular cave
temples found on mountains throughout the province.
Five
kilometres away from the city centre towards the direction where
Khao Wang is situated, a cave temple was built on a small hill
with a height of only 92 metres. It is not that hard to get to
there. The way up to the temple is not quite steep so that you
can either walk or drive uphill. The cave temple is only about a
hundred years old. It was built in the reign of King
Chulalongkorn, who wanted to build a temple on Khao Luang Peak
in honour of King Mongkut, who once visited the Tham Khao Luang
Cave. King Chulalongkorn thought that the cave was fascinating
with stalactites and stalagmites all over it. The cave also
features a hole through which sunlight comes and gleams on
stones, making the cavern colourful and allowing visitors to see
all the beauty of the interior of the cave. Also, the hole
permits cool air to flow into the cave, making it not humid.
King Mongkut, who saw the beauty of the cave, had 10-metre
long concrete stairs built from the foot of the mountain into
the cave and also got the ancient Buddha images which were
hosted in the cave before the Rattanakosin Period renovated. It
is assumed that the statues, the six-metre long reclining Buddha
and the large Buddha image in subduing Mara position, for
example, were brought from somewhere else and hosted here by
pilgrims.
During his reign, King Chulalongkorn paid a
visit to Petchaburi and wanted to construct a proper temple in
the Tham Khao Luang cave in honour of his father, King Mongkut.
He had new Buddha images made so as to host them in the cavern
with the ancient ones. He also had the first five kings of the
Chakri Dynasty’s coats of arms inscribed at the base of one of
the newer Buddha statues.
Wat Tham Khao Luang underwent
renovations and improvements. Nowadays, tourist guides are
provided by the temple and shops are available to visitors. In
addition, there are lots of monkeys living in the temple. |
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Province |
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Phetchaburi |
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District |
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Mueang |
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City |
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Thongchai |
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Genre |
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Cave |
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Opening time |
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Entry fee |
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Free |
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GPS : |
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13.1351 N |
99.9328 E |
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