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Historic Town of Sukhothai and Associated Historic Towns
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Criteria	Cultural: i, iii
Reference	574
Inscription	1991 (15th Session)

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The Sukhothai Historical Park (Thai: อุทยานประวัติศาสตร์สุโขทัย (Pronunciation)) covers the ruins of Sukhothai, capital of the Sukhothai kingdom in the 13th and 14th centuries,[1] in what is now the north of Thailand. It is located near the modern city of Sukhothai, capital of the province with the same name. The city walls form a rectangle about 2 km east-west by 1.6 km north-south. The park sees thousands of visitors each year, who marvel at the ancient Buddha figures, palace buildings and ruined temples. The protection of the area was first announced in the Royal Gazette on June 6, 1962.

History

The ancient city of Sukhothai was the first capital city of the Thai kingdom from 1238-1583. It was a flourishing civilization in politics, administration, religion, arts and culture. By the end of the 14th century, Sukhothai reached its ending as the sons and grandsons of King Ram Khamhaeng could not control the power. Consequently, the city surrendered to an attack by the kingdom of Ayutthaya. Sukhothai then was no longer the capital city of Thailand. Later on, Sukhothai was certified to be a spiritual centre of the Thai kingdom.

The idea of making Sukhothai a historical park began in 1975 according to a suggestion from UNESCO that Thailand ought to develop one of the ancient cites to make it worth-visiting city. In the later year, Sukhothai was chosen to be a location to be restored and preserved within an international standard. In 1977, a word “historical park” was more widely used for calling the place and Sukhothai historical park was the first location of Thailand to formally use the word “historical park” (Thai:อุทยานประวัติศาสตร์ (Pronunciation)).

In 1978, Sukhothai historical park was announced by UNESCO to be one of the world’s important historical sites and that it should be maintained; therefore, the area of restoration and development was extended further from only around the moat to cover surrounded suburb. On December 12, 1991, it was declared a World Heritage Site as part of the Historic Town of Sukhothai and Associated Historic Towns together with the associated historic parks in Kamphaeng Phet and Si Satchanalai.

The Park Today

There are 193 ruins on 70 square kilometers of land.[1] There is a gate in the centre of each wall. Inside are the remains of the royal palace, other 70 worthy of visiting sites within a five kilometre radius and twenty-six temples, the largest being Wat Mahathat. The park is maintained by the Fine Arts Department of Thailand with help from UNESCO, which has declared it a World Heritage Site

Travel

Sukhothai historical park is available for visiting everyday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The place is situated twelve kilometers away from the town of Sukhothai province, which is about 427 km north of Bangkok. They are separated into five zones (north, east, south, west and central) and admission fees to each zone is 30 baht excepts for the central zone where the admission fee is 40 baht.

The easiest way the move around each zone besides walking is probably by bicycles. They can be rented at the part for 20 baht per day. Alternatively, there is a train moving from site to site costing 20 baht per person.