Muang Boran

The Ancient City "Muang Boran" started by a late art-loving millionaire in the early 1970's, contains numerous buildings and monuments - some replicas, others genuine - from Thailand's past, on a 200-acre site roughly shaped like the country itself. One enters from the far south, passing such attractions as the Phra Mahathat stupa of Nakhon Si Thammarat and another from the Srivijaya city of Chaya, and then moves upward to the north trough the splendors of Ayutthaya and Sukhotai. The idea might sound contrived, but it is executed with considerable taste, and expert advice from various authorities - among them a former director of the National Museum - which have been consulted throughout to ensure authenticity of detail. The replicas are one-third the original size, but there are also many original buildings. The village stilt-houses around the "floating market, and the so-called "Market of Yesteryear" were once Thai houses that have been completely dismantled and moved to the site and then refurbished with original antiques and objects of everyday use. Two northern buildings of significance, a Lanna-style temple from Chiang Rai and the Shan-Burmese temple from Ngao, have been salvaged from destruction and carefully restored in the Ancient City