Wat

Pha Thatluang ( Vientiane , Laos )

Wat ( Thai. วัด ไทย ) is a Buddhist temple complex, or Buddhist monastery , in Thailand , Laos and Cambodia .

A Buddhist temple, or rather, a monastery in Thailand, is not just one building, but a whole complex of structures, temples and monuments within a courtyard surrounded by a wall. The Thai monastery, with rare exceptions, consists of two parts: phutta-vata and sangha-vata ^[1] .

It contains the main Buddhist buildings - temples (bot, wihan, sim) and stupas (chedi, prang, that), as well as separate pavilions for especially significant statues of Buddha (hopra, hopka), a monastery library (hotai), a bell tower , living quarters for monks (kuti), a school , outdoor gazebos for relaxation (sala) and a number of other religious and utility rooms.

In Thailand, the number of cotton wool in 1998 was 30,678 ^[2] . Hospitals , nursing homes , as well as hotels for visitors and other institutions, are often located in small buildings attached to wards. For example, hospice for AIDS patients is located in Vata Phrabakhtnampu near Lopburi , while in Vata Thamkrabok (140 km north of Bangkok ) there is a rehabilitation center for drug addicts ^[3] .

In Cambodia, the Angkor Wat complex (literally, “ Angkor Temple ” ^[4] ) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site ^[5] . In Thailand, World Heritage sites with many vats are the historical cities of Ayutthaya ^[6] and Sukhothai with neighboring cities ^[7] .