Phraek

Phraek, also known as Muang San, was an old fortified town in the Chao Phraya plain. Its royal monastery, Wat Mahathat, contains brick towers and Buddha images in styles associated with Lopburi and early Ayutthaya. Tradition dates the temple's foundation to 1354. The town served as a strategic centre in the struggles of the Sukhothai and Ayutthaya kingdoms, and its ancient shrines preserve the memory of the religious and artistic traditions that met in this river country.