Mahathat Temple is perhaps the most popular tourist attraction of Ayutthaya. In the heyday of the city as the capital of the kingdom of the same name, he was the largest and most majestic.

Wat Mahathat belongs to the early Ayutthaya period. According to the royal chronicles, its construction was started during the reign of King boron - Ratchathirata in 1374 and completed by King Ramesuane. He was a royal temple and served as a home for the head of the Buddhist sangha whole kingdom of Ayutthaya.

The main building on the territory of Wat Mahathat is phrang (building resembling an ear of corn), made in the traditional Khmer style. It was a statue of Buddha and other valuable relics. When Songtame king, who ruled from 1610 to 1628 years., Phrang was virtually destroyed. During the restoration work, completed only by King Prassathonge in the period from 1630 to 1655 years., Height of the building has been greatly increased.

Hallmark of the temple and all Ayuttai in general is the head of the Buddha, braided roots of the Bodhi tree. It is considered sacred and is a Buddhist miracle, carrying the goodness of everyone who sees it.

There is no exact evidence of when and why at this point of the Buddha's head appeared, however, there is a legend. It is expected that in 1767, when the Burmese army completely took over the city, one of the soldiers could not carry out of the temple so hard booty and buried it in the ground. Later, on the site of the ruined temple grew Bodhi tree. Sacred trees, with time, like ascending on their own roots. So one of the trees from the ground and took out the head of the Buddha.

Earlier wool Mahathat located an unusual statue of Buddha made of green stone in the pose of "Buddha seated on a throne." During the reign of King Rama III, it was moved to Wat Naphrameru.

During the invasion of Burmese Wat Mahathat was strong enough looted and damaged, almost all are preserved Buddha statues were headless. Part of the building is in ruins.