Wat Chedi Luang

You walk in from the street, and there it is, filling the sky ahead. A vast pyramid of old brick and stone. It is broken at the top, yet it still towers over everything around it. This is the great chedi of Wat Chedi Luang, the largest ancient structure in Chiang Mai.

The work began in the late fourteenth century. King Saenmuengma started it to hold the ashes of his father. The task was hard, and it took a long time. After ten years the chedi still stood unfinished. The king died, and his widow carried on the work. It was completed only in the middle of the next century, under King Tilokaraj.

When it was finished, the chedi reached about eighty-two meters into the air. Its base measured some fifty-four meters across. In its day it was the tallest building in the whole Lanna kingdom. Pilgrims could see its form from far across the valley, long before they reached the city walls. Even broken, what stands today is hard to take in at a single glance.

In 1468 the chedi was given its greatest honor. The Emerald Buddha, the most sacred image in the land, was placed in a niche on its eastern side. This small dark-green figure is now the most revered Buddha in Thailand. For a time it rested here, in the heart of this northern city. Pilgrims came from across the kingdom to bow before it here.

Then came the year 1545. A powerful earthquake struck the region. The upper part of the chedi, around thirty meters of it, broke away and fell. The great tower was never rebuilt to its full height. A few years later, in 1551, the Emerald Buddha was carried away to the north, and in time it traveled on to other cities.

Stand close to the base now and look up. You can still see the scale of what was built here. Long stone staircases climb each side. At the foot of the eastern stairs, serpents called nagas stretch their carved bodies along the rails. Their heads rise where the steps begin, guarding the way up. Run your eyes up the worn steps to where they meet the ruined brick.

Look at the eastern niche, high on the face of the chedi. A green Buddha image sits within it today. This is not the original. It is a copy of the Emerald Buddha, carved from black jade. It was placed here in 1995, to mark six hundred years since the chedi was first raised. From the ground, it returns a small piece of the tower's old glory.

Walk slowly around the whole structure. Notice how the brick changes color where old work meets new repair. Some elephants stand out from the base on one side, restored in recent times. The stone is worn smooth in places by centuries of weather and hands. Each face of the chedi shows the marks of its long life. Take your time, and let the size of it settle in your mind.

The grounds hold more than the great tower. Near the entrance stands a tall gum tree, very old, which the city has long believed protects Chiang Mai. A small shrine sits at its foot. People still come to leave offerings here, asking for the safety of the city, just as their ancestors did. A length of saffron cloth is tied around its old trunk.

You will also find the main viharn near the front of the grounds. Step inside to see the large standing Buddha at its center. The hall is used for daily prayer and for festivals through the year. In one corner of the temple, monks sometimes sit and talk with visitors, answering questions about their life and their faith. It is worth pausing to listen to whatever they wish to share.

Find a place to sit in the shade of the chedi. Feel the cool that comes off the old stone. Watch the light move across the broken summit as the day turns. Birds settle on the high ledges where the tower once continued upward. There is a strange peace in a great thing left unfinished by time.

Before you leave, look up one last time at the empty space above the chedi. Picture the thirty meters that once stood there, and the golden point that caught the sun. What remains is still enormous, still solemn. In its broken height, you can read both the ambition of the people who built it and the power of the earth that brought it down.