Wat Hua Khuang Believed to have been constructed around 1525, Wat Hua Khuang was restored in 1882 and again in 1927. The compound is relatively small and today just three of the original structures are still standing. Typical of Tai Lü and some Lanna temples, one the chapel serves as both bot and wihan. The style of the building is Tai Lü, with thick walls and small windows. The main entry stairs are flanked by huge single-headed naga, raised high as at Wat Phra That Chae Haeng.
Naga encompass the bargeboards and appear in stucco reliefs over the side entrances as well, confirming the building’s Tai Lü origins. A large but simply carved wooden eyebrow pelmet, similar to those found among temples in Luang Prabang, Laos, hangs over the entry veranda. Heavily decorated window frames possibly added later are topped by a hemispherical sun-ray pattern similar to the front gable decoration found at Wat Ton Laeng, a provincial Tai Lü temple much farther north in Nan Province.
Inside, teak roof pillars that probably once displayed lai kham ornamentation or wood-andglass mosaic rosettes are now plain and whitewashed. The large principal Buddha image, fashioned in the Thai Yuan style, sits at the back on a huge naga.
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