ITINERARY
At the Northern end of Pattaya Bay, dramatically set on rocky Rachvate Cape, in the small town of Naklua, lies one of the least known attractions in Thailand. It looks like a strange dark looking temple. It‘s called the “Sanctuary of Truth”, is built entirely from wood, and has been the personal life project of Khun Lek Viriyaphan, who also created Bangkok’s Ancient City (Muang Boran).
Sadly Khun Lek has not lived long enough to see the completion of his project, but his family is carrying on in the spirit he intended. Construction work has been going on for 20 years & it is not expected to be complete for another five years! We can however visit the site to see the work in progress but there’s a hefty entrance fee (included in the tour price) to prevent too many visitors interrupting the daily painstaking work of the 250
woodcarvers. Hard hats are provided to protect you when inside the building.
Although the overall shape roughly follows traditional Thai architecture, the temple is richly detailed with wood carvings depicting the four major philosophical and artistic influences that can be seen in Thailand: Hindu, Khmer, Chinese and Thai. Each of the cruciform-plan building's four wings reflects a different one of these four styles. The inside is now being covered in the same rich carvings as the outside.
This truly astonishing work of art in progress has been created to highlight the goodness to be found in oriental religion, philosophy and art. The ideas that are represented of eastern philosophy can be mind bogglingly difficult to understand, but our advice is to stand back and admire the art for what it is.
