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Another of the region’s hidden treasures, this one built on a headland just to the North of Pattaya.
I had seen the signposts to the Sanctuary of Truth before but had assumed it was some sort of convent or similar establishment, so it was only when a local television channel visited it did I realise what an amazing sight I had been missing.
So the visit of Graham’s sister and her husband to Thailand gave us the excuse to plan a visit there.
Beforehand we had leaned that this construction had been designed and promoted by the same person who had created the Ancient City just outside Bangkok - itself a spectacular construction of reproductions of many of Thailand’s most famous buildings and monuments.
This time the objective was to build a wooden structure in order to preserve and revive traditional craftsmanship knowledge.
According to history Thai craftsmen in the 17th century were capable of building structures made entirely of wood to a height of more than 100 metres, so this building was intended to emulate this.
It was also intended to encompass styles from many of the various faiths and cultures of the region, so each wing of the resulting temple was designed in a different style, Buddhist, Hindu, Khmer, Brahmin etc. and the carvings in each representative of these faiths.
Construction was started in 1981 and is scheduled to continue for several more years yet, and being therefore a construction site, all visitors are required to wear protective helmets.
After arrival and being suitably donned, we were then given a guided tour of the interior and exterior of this vast structure and also had the chance to see some of the craftspeople, both men and women at work,
The rest of this story is best described by some of the pictures taken, a selection of which follows - to view any of these in full size, just click on the appropriate thumbnail.
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