Harjalintu

Taken on: 5th May, 2011. Copyright: All Rights Reserved - See jgronlund's page of Flickr

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Set at the conjunction of the Lopburi, Prasak and Chao Phraya Rivers, the beautiful city of Ayutthaya was founded in 1350 by King U-Thong and was the capital of what was then known as Siam.

Over the next 417 years it was ruled by 33 kings and repelled 23 Burmese invasions, before the Burmese finally succeeded in razing it to the ground. At its height, Ayutthaya was surrounded by a 12-kilometre-long wall which was five metres thick and six metres high and boasted 99 gates, brick and clay roads and canals to transport water into the city.

By all reports Ayutthaya was stunning and rivalled most European capitals of the time and portions of this grandiose past can be re-experienced through its ruins scattered throughout the province, but for the relics and records from this period, the Burmese obliterated almost everything in 1767 -- even melting Buddha images down for their gold.

More recently, Ayutthaya briefly grabbed international headlines in 2003 when ... Read our complete Ayutthaya travel guide

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