Wat Phlapphla Chai

Wat Phlapphla Chai is a Mahanikai community temple whose east side borders the Phetchaburi River. It was founded in 1747 by nobles, merchants, wealthy residents and townspeople pooling their funds. The site was once an army assembly and weapons-training ground with a royal pavilion (phlapphla), hence the name.

A major fire in 1915 left only the vihara standing, so most buildings are later: the two-storey Thai-style wooden sermon hall dates from 1923 and the ordination hall from 1924.

The vihara now houses a museum of nang yai (large shadow puppets) more than a century old, along with figures of former abbots Luang Pho Rit and Luang Pho Kon. The grounds also have a Sunthorn Phu courtyard, because the poet wrote of it in his Nirat Mueang Phet.