Architecture
The present site has two main monastic structures: an ordination hall and a vihara. Both structures have a main chedi to the west. There are also some minor chedis and a bell tower. Wat Suwannawat was aligned on an east-west axis facing Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak (defunct). The Chikun Road runs through the former premises of the temple (see personal note below). Excavations at this site uncovered a Chinese-style image of a Buddha preaching dating back to the Ming Dynasty (16th-17th CE). The Chao Sam Phraya Museum has this marble image presently on display.
Wat Suwannawat on maps
Wat Suwannawat shows on Kaempfer’s sketch. Engelbert Kaempfer (1651-1716 CE) was a medical doctor working for the Dutch VOC (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) who surveyed the city of Ayutthaya in June 1690 CE. The temple is situated on the west bank of Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak, close to the northern city wall. The depiction of the monastery is difficult to discern, but we can see a chedi on the left side of the path leading to the temple(s). Opposite the canal, we find the chedi of Wat Tha Sai. Elephant Road and Bridge are depicted clearly.
The monastery does not appear on Bellin’s map, ‘Plan De La Ville De Siam’, although the two bastions along the Khao Pluak canal can be seen. Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772 CE) was one of the most important cartographers of the 18th century.
Wat Suwannawat is indicated on a map drafted in the 19th century by an unknown surveyor. The map denominates the temple also as Wat Klang and shows the presence of three chedis. The name of Wat Klang presumably relates to its central position between Wat Racha Praditsathan and Wat Khongkha Phihan (alt. Wihan). The drawing shows a chedi to the east of the monastic structure. If it existed, its foundations must now lay under the Chikun Road.
The temple is on Phraya Boran Rachathanin's map of 1926 CE in an identical position as the 19th-century map. Phraya Boran (1871-1936 CE) was the Superintendent Commissioner of Monthon Ayutthaya from 1925 till 1929 CE.
The restored ruin of Wat Suwannawat is in geographical coordinates: 14° 21' 43.15"N, 100° 34' 4.53" E.
Personal note:
The present ordination hall of Wat Racha Praditsathan was established in 1917 CE, and in my opinion, the monastic structures of Wat Suwannawat were part of the monastery. The buildings of Wat Suwannawat are aligned on an east-west axis. An identical east-west alignment we find at Wat Thai Sa, opposite Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak. The present ordination hall has a rare north-south alignment and is opposed to the directions of Wat Suwannawat and Wat Tha Sai. On Kaempfer’s sketch, the Chikun Road stops at the intersection with the Map Phrao Road (former Elephant Street), and from the crossing, only a path leads to the monastery. The construction of the Maharat Bridge over Khlong Mueang and the Maharat Road in the 20th century has cut through the temple complex. I believe, as this monastery figures several times in the Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya as a royal retreat, that the premises of Wat Racha Praditsathan were not confined only to the small space on the west bank of Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak but also included the structures of Wat Suwannawat. Wat Suwannawat, in my opinion, never existed.
Footnotes:
(1) Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak, or the ‘Canal of the Gate of Unmilled Rice’, was part of a waterway running through the middle of Ayutthaya from north to south. The canal, a shortcut in the oxbow of the Lopburi River, ran until the Chikun Bridge and continued to the Chinese water gate (Pratu Jin).
(2) The most northern bridge on Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak was Saphan Chang or the "Elephant Bridge", connecting both sides of Elephant Street. The bridge was made of laterite (sila laeng). The foundations of this bridge were dismantled in the reign of Rama III, and the laterite was brought to Bangkok to be used for the foundations of the chedi of Wat Sakae (present Wat Saket) in Bangkok.
