Lampang

Lampang stands beside the Wang River in a valley of the northern Thai highlands. Once known as Khelang Nakhon, it was a walled town associated with the Mon kingdom of Hariphunchai before becoming part of Lan Na. Its temples preserve the region's Buddhist traditions, and the great sanctuary of Wat Phra That Lampang Luang stands on the site of an older settlement south of the town.

The temple's surviving buildings include a Lanna-style sanctuary established in the fifteenth century. Another shrine, Wat Phra Kaeo Don Tao, housed the revered Emerald Buddha for several decades in that century. During the eighteenth century, the Lampang marksman Nan Thipchang killed a Burmese leader at Wat Phra That Lampang Luang and led a rising against Burmese domination. His descendants became prominent among the northern rulers who helped restore Lan Na towns after the long wars with Burma.