Description : Ayutthaya Historical Park (Thai: อุทยานประวัติศาสตร์พระนครศรีอยุธยา) covers the ruins of the old city of Ayutthaya, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province, Thailand. The city of Ayutthaya was founded by King Ramathibodi I in 1351. However, the establishment of Ayutthaya is far older than what we thought. Evidence shown that the area was already populated during Mon Dvaravati period. Sources further mentioned that around 850 AD, the Khmers occupied the area and established a stronghold there, named it as Ayodhya after one of the holiest Hindu cities of India of the same name. Early history of Ayutthaya is historically connected to this Khmer settlement. Consistently, Prince Damrong also agreed that there was a city called Ayodhya which was found by the Khmers ruling from Lopburi at the point where the three rivers meet. Excavation map shows the traces from an ancient baray (water reservoir) close to the southwestern tip of Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon which could has been built on a former important Khmer temple complex. The city was then captured by the Burmese in 1569. Though not pillaged, it lost "many valuable and artistic objects.":42–43 It was the capital of the country until its destruction by the Burmese Army in 1767.
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