Attraction Details :
Wat
Sri Chum was built in 1890 during the reign of King Rama V by wealthy
Burmese people, Jong Taka U Yo, his son in law, U Mong Yee, and the
stepmother, Pom Boriboon. The temple is located on Thipwan Road, Tambon
Suan Dok, Muang District, Lampang. It is a temple with beautiful Burmese
art inside including a gold pagoda of Mon – Burmese art. The Buddha's
relics which were brought from Myanmar in 1906 are inside. Wat Sri Chum
was announced as a historic site by the Fine Art Department in 1981. In
1992, the old Vihara was unfortunately on fire which caused the temple
to be severely damaged. Only the beauty of carvings which is the
handrails delicately carved as if curtains is hanging down to the
staircase with a roof covering the stairs remained. This vihara,
therefore, was rebuilt under the same architectural style.
The
temple, as mentioned earlier, was built by wealthy Burmese loggers who
came to live in Lampang. According to Wat Sri Chum's history, before the
wealthy Burmese built this temple, the area had been occupied by a
small temple with only a pavilion and a Bodhi tree. Later in 1892, the
Burmese asked the governor of Lampang for permission to build Wat Sri
Chum and named it in Burmese as “Yong Wai Jong”.
The temple is complete with a vihara, an ubosot, a pagoda, monk's houses and an arched gate, all in Burmese art.
The
vihara, which is located in the middle, is a half-wood, half-concrete
building in Burmese style. The roofs are piled up, 7 layers to the top.
The roof top is decorated with golden a many-tiered umbrella. Both sides
of the staircase is delicately carved, gilded and lacquered in the
shape of Burmese dolls on the design of intertwined sprays. The tympanum is flower-patterned and decorated with mosaic.
The
ceilings are decorated with carved dolls in many different shapes such
as lion, fish, cow, monkey, bird, elephant, horse, child, and angel.
Apart
from the construction, wood engraving and mosaic indicating the Burmese
style, and the principle Buddha image, situated in the middle where 7
layers of the roof meet, there is also a Burmese image in the attitude
of subduing Mara with a low forehead, a flat face, arched eyebrows, a
prominent nose, a smiling mouth, long ears to the shoulders, delicate
hair, wide knots on the image's head, and covered in a monk's robe.
The
principle images of Burmese temples in Lampang are mostly carved from a
teak and later gilded but not all Burmese Buddha image are carved from
wood. Some are made of marble and some big ones are made of bricks and
layered with cement like Thai Buddha images. Even though the temple
could not be renovated to be as beautiful as it was before the fire
accident, it exactly copied from the old one. The ubosot on the
southeast has a low wall surrounding. The entrance to the ubosot was
made of bricks and cement with a 3-layered roof, each decorated with
perforated metal patterns. It is a square building with four gable ends.
The top is decorated with a many-tiered umbrella. Inside, a Burmese
Buddha image is located facing the east. The pagoda is round and made of
bricks and cement in Burmese style. The neck of the pagoda has stucco
decoration. The Buddha's relics from Myanmar were placed inside.
