Wieng Kum Kam

	Half-day tour - Mornings or Afternoons	For a full map of the Wieng Kum Kam Archaeological Park Buy the book
Wat Sri Bun Ruang - Site 1 on the map, and the starting point of your walking tour of the ruins.
WIENG KUM KAM was founded in AD 1286 or 87 - the Buddhist Era calendar has a new year starting in mid-April, hence the Songkran water festival every year in Thailand. This was after King Mengrai had left the captured city of Lamphun because that city had flooded badly. He did not go directly to Wieng Kum Kam, but upon arriving here, he found a small village with Mon-Dvaravati inhabitants and a temple (believed to be part of the current ruins called Wat Hua Nong).

Wat Chedi Liam - The tall pyramidical stupa was first built by King Mengrai, and restored by a Burmese businessman around 100 years ago. (Site 2 on tour map)	King Mengrai's first actions were to build city walls, and to dig a moat around the west and south sides of the area to become his city. The old course of the River Ping protected the north and east sides, and served as a moat there. Having secured the site, he had many buildings erected, including palaces, stables and barracks. He then turned to religious matters and built the stupa at Wat Chedi Liam. Whilst the fortifications as a whole were called Wieng (fort) Kum Kam, the interior was called “Ban Mai” or new village. Later this name was re-used & modified for the newer city of Chiang Mai (New City) leading some to incorrectly propose that Ban Mai was the original location of the successor city.
The recently landscaped western city walls and moat, obviously at the time of building, the walls would have been higher and the moat wider than they are today. (Site 3 on map)
It was thought that King Mengrai abandoned Wieng Kum Kam when it was destroyed in a flood, and that its location was only rediscovered in the AD 1980s. However the inhabitants and city of Wieng Kum Kam are often mentioned in medieval chronicles until the early AD 1500s. (Mengrai left the city on 27^th March 1292, started Chiangmai on 19^th April 1296, and died in late 1317 or early 1318). The British Surveyor to King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), James McCarthy, recorded in the 1890s that there was reputed to be the ruins of a great city just south of Chiangmai, but that the location was unknown. In Chiangmai Zoo, at the site of the former Wat Ku Din Khao, is a Fine Arts Department plinth showing Wieng Kum Kam clearly identified on an AD 1954 aerial photograph.		Site 4 on your tour - Part of the ruins of Wat That Khao	Site 5 The beautifully preserved ruins of Wat Pu Pia display some interesting carvings on the spire-like chedi, and many unusual features in the main structures.
Excavations underway at Site 6 during late 2002 The site is now fully excavated and is one of the largest in the Wieng Kum Kam park.	Throughout the 1980s, local archaeologists excavated Wieng Kum Kam and many sites were exposed. Excavations began anew in 2002 and the site received much press exposure, culminating in a twelve-week festival and promotion of the uncovered city, named as “Wieng Kum Kam – the Underground Empire”, which ran from January to April 2003. A spectacular open-air sound and light theatre performed the story of Wieng Kum Kam; the show was televised nationally, and attended by HM Queen Sirikit and the Crown Prince of Thailand. There are more than 30 different sites which have been uncovered and made available to visit. Additionally, a new Visitors Centre and Museum opened in January 2003.
With over 30 different sites uncovered, it is difficult to present them all correctly on a single web page, or even on a half day tour. If you would like a longer tour, please email me and I can arrange it for you. I also recommend that you prepare for your tour by obtaining a copy of the book “Wieng Kum Kam – Atlantis of Lan Na” which tells the history of the buried city, its founder, and the peoples of the region during the last 2,500 years. It remains the only English language guidebook to the newly designated archaeological park.		The small chapel at Site 9 (Wat Kan Thom) said to have been built by King Mengrai & often restored	These reproduction traditional Lan Na village houses in the grounds of Wat Kan Thom are now used for tourist education. Local people also use them to offer traditional massage and sell natural fruit juices & traditional foods (delicious).



Nongnut Klaitin, your guide, worked with expatriate historian and author, Garry Harbottle-Johnson, during his research for the book "Wieng Kum Kam - Atlantis of Lan Na" and would like to thank him for his diligent work in uncovering new facts & information, and for his work in preparing the brief historical summaries on these web pages.