Wat Phra That Hariphunchai

Wat Phra That Hariphunchai is a Buddhist sanctuary wat in Lamphun, Thailand. The sanctuary's starting points date from the eleventh century however the focal stupa is thought to begin in the ninth century. Wat Phra That Hariphunchai's soonest starting points were in 897 when the then ruler of Hariphunchai is said to have constructed a stupa now the focal stupa to house a hair of the Buddha. The present compound, established by Hariphunchai King Athitayarai, dates from 1044. The sanctuary was first reconstructed in 1443 by King Tilokaraja of Lanna kingdom Chiang Mai.

The sanctuary's pyramid-molded Chedi Suwanna was worked in 1418. In the 1930s sanctuary redesigns were made by the northern Thai priest Khru Ba Sriwichai. The rebuilding of 1443 expanded and upgraded the focal stupa, including the fuse of repousse Buddha pictures on bronze sheets appended to the stupa ringer component anda. These repousse Buddhas are characteristic of the Lanna Early Classic period.

The unordinary pyramid-formed, 46 m high Chedi Suwanna in the northwest of the compound is in the Davati-style of the Haripunchai time frame and accepted to be demonstrated on comparable stupas at adjacent Wat Chama Thewi Wat Kukut. The chedi is included on the invert of the one-satang coin. Wat Phra That Hariphunchai's wihan houses a fifteenth century Lanna Buddha. Close to the wihan is a library of nineteenth century root. The library's staircase highlights naga pictures. Likewise close to the wihan is a substantial bronze gong, purportedly the world's biggest.