WAT CHIANG MAN

Built in 1296 (the year Chiang Mai was founded), Wat Chiang Man (the Power of the City) is Chiang Mai's oldest temple - the name suggesting its importance for the early inhabitants of the city.

The courtyard indeed served as residence to King Mengrai, the founder of Chiang Mai. Today the temple is noteworthy for a chedi supported by rows of elephant buttresses, and several handsome bronze Buddha images from the Lanna period inside the viharn.