Wat Pho, or the Monastery of the Bodhi Three, was located off the city island in the southern area of Ayutthaya, in the Samphao Lom Sub-district (1).
The monastery was in or near the former Portuguese settlement and west of Khlong Thet.
It was located between Wat Phraya Kong which stood in its north and Wat Phraya Phan in the south. The Dominican San Petro Church was located in its vicinity opposite Khlong Thet in a north-eastern direction.
Historical data about the monastery and its construction are unknown.
The site is only indicated on a 1993 CE Fine Arts Department map.
Wat Pho should have been located in approximative geographical coordinates: 14° 20' 12.17" N, 100° 34' 20.46" E.
Footnotes:
(1) Sub-district called after the village Ban Samphao Lom near the Chao Phraya River. The village is on the Monthon Krung Kao map (1916 CE). John Bowring (1857, London, John W. Parker and Son, West Strand), in his book ‘The Kingdom and People of Siam’, wrote: "Between the modern and the ancient capital, Bangkok and Ayuthia, is a village called the “Sunken Ship,” the houses being erected round a mast which towers above the surface at low water."
(2) Khlong Thet is a defunct canal situated south of Ayutthaya between Khu Cham and the Lopburi River (present Chao Phraya River). The canal ran parallel and close to the main river, immediately west of the two Portuguese churches (San Pedro and San Paolo) and extending a long way southwards. Its name means 'foreign' origin, usually meaning from India or Arabia.
