Wat Luang Chi Krut, or the Monastery of the Reverend Nun Krut, is situated in the northwestern area of the city island in the Pratu Chai Sub-district. The restored ruin lies on the edge of the Somdet Phra Sri Nakharin Park and is part of the Ayutthaya Historical Park.
Wat Luang Chi Krut stood east of Wat Wang Chai, north of a fortress controlling the entry of Khlong Takhian, and west of the today defunct Wat Sing Sai. The sanctuary situates along a road parallel to the old Lopburi River, which became at the end of the 19th century the U-Thong road.
Prince Thianracha, the later King Chakkraphat of Ayutthaya (reign 1548-1569 CE), resided in this area. The area around the temple was in an important quarter. Most of the palace officials and important persons lived on both sides of the Chao Phraya River between Wat Phutthaisawan and Wat Chai Watthanaram. There was a ferry route between the landing of Wat Wang Chai on the city's side across the landing near Wat Nak at the mouth of Khlong Takhian.
We find in situ a large ordination hall or ubosot and other monastic structures built on the classical east-west axis. To the west side of the ordination hall is a vihara constructed following a north-south axis. Excavations by the Fine Arts Department found evidence of three chedis in a north-south alignment similar to Wat Phra Sri Sanphet. An outer wall called Kamphaeng Kaeo or Crystal wall surrounded the whole monastic area. [1]
Engelbert Kaempfer’s sketch or draft map made in June 1690 does not show the sanctuary. The German doctor describes the area as ‘Horti Campestres’ or large-scale rural grounds but indicates no monastic structures. (1)
The map ‘Plan De La Ville De Siam’ of the French cartographer Jacques Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772 CE), based on a Jesuit survey in 1687 CE and published as plate No. 4 in volume 9 of the 1752 CE French edition of Abbé Antoine François Prévost's l'Histoire Générale des Voyages, shows two monasteries and these likely are Wat Wang Chai and Wat Luang Chi Krut.
The 19th-century map shows two chedis, one in the east and one in the west near the former Wang Chai Fortress and Wang Chai Ferry. Phraya Boran Rachathanin indicates Wat Luang Chi Krut on his 1926 map in the same position as the 19th-century map.
The monastery's restored ruin is in geographical coordinates: 14° 20' 28.67" N, 100° 33' 2.81" E.
Footnotes:
(1) Engelbert Kaempfer was a medical doctor working for the Dutch VOC (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) who visited and surveyed Ayutthaya extensively in June 1690. John Gaspar Scheuchzer published posthumously in 1727 Kaempfer’s work "The History of Japan, together with a description of the kingdom of Siam, 1690-92."
