The Sanctuary of Truth is a landmark structure in Pattaya City, Thailand. The structure is completely made out of wood, and is quite huge and tall, it covers an area of almost one acre on a site right besides the sea, and is topped with a central spire that rises 105 meters (345 ft) into the sky, overlooking the Gulf of Thailand.
As its name suggests, the Sanctuary of Truth is partly used as a temple, it contains an area dedicated to worship in the hall.
However, the wooden building is not totally a temple, it’s also an art museum, from where you can find thousands of intricately carved sculptures, at both interior and exterior of the building, and it also feels like a palace, there’s images of the former King in the hall and you can also find a replicated King’s throne.
The Sanctuary of Truth was proposed and commissioned by Lek Viriyaphant, a Thai millionaire who was a notable patron of the arts and Thai culture. Before the Sanctuary of Truth, Viriyaphant had also built two other cultural projects, the Ancient Siam and Erawan Museum near the city of Bangkok. The Sanctuary of Truth was intended to be a place of appreciation for art, culture, and faith, and to show the concept of that all religions lead to the only one truth.
The construction of the Sanctuary began in 1981, and has been ongoing for nearly 40 years, now the building has already become very impressive. However, it’s still far from completion, the date of completion is expected to be around 2050. So the building always has some parts covered with scaffolding, somewhat similar to the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.
Lek Viriyaphant had passed away in 2000, but the construction continues, and the site is open to public to explore for a fee, the admission ticket sales is now the main source of funding for the construction.
As of 2023, a standard admission ticket for the Sanctuary of Truth costs 500 Baht (approximately 15 US Dollars), the price is a little high compared to that of other temples or museums in Thailand, but your visit makes a contribution to the construction of this wonderful structure.
You can get a discount if you book tickets online in advance by clicking here, in this way you can visit the Sanctuary of Truth for just 400 Baht.
The Sanctuary of Truth opens all year round, but like other temples in Thailand, it doesn’t open in evening, the opening hours is 8 am to 5 pm everyday, so if you wish to visit, don’t be late.
And be aware that the Sanctuary of Truth is a religious building, it requires visitors to dress respectfully, which means short pants and skirts that don’t cover knees are not allowed, and shirts need to cover shoulders. On my visit I saw a woman was not allowed to enter because of her short skirt. Interestingly, the sculptures of women shown in the building all don’t dress that conservatively.
You can join a guided tour at no extra cost, the guide will speak in English (other available languages are Chinese and Russian) and explain about the concepts and ideas behind the building, and can also answer your questions.
But the tour is not mandatory, if you don’t want to join a guided tour, you are free to explore around the building on your own or with your family members or friends. But a guided tour can be helpful as it helps you understand the meaning of various stuffs you see in the building. As there’s no limit to the duration of a visit, it’s recommended to first join a guided tour to learn the concepts behind the building and its elements, and then freely explore the building to see the details later.
The Sanctuary of Truth is affiliated with Buddhism, the mainstream religion in Thailand, but elements of Indian, Chinese, and Khmer beliefs are also represented on the building. The main architectural style of the Sanctuary is based on the Thai architecture of the Ayutthayan period, the decorative carvings on the building are inspired by Buddhist and Hindu beliefs. The whole structure of the Sanctuary of Truth is composed of a central tower and four wings on its four directions, each of these four wings has a lower tower, which is based on gopura, a sort of monumental entrance tower which can usually be found at the entrances of Dravidian temples in India and Thailand.
Both interior and exterior of the building are heavily covered with elaborate wood carvings and sculptures, depicting people, deities, elephants, and some other creatures, they adorn the facades, entrances, walls, columns, ceilings, almost every single surface of the whole building, the Sanctuary of Truth is literally a museum of wooden sculptures.
The sculptures show the scenes from mythological stories in Eastern religions, telling some tales like battles of good versus evil in visual, through them the concepts of Buddhist and Hindu beliefs are expressed.
The Sanctuary of Truth is constructed entirely of wood, without even using metal nails. The numerous delicate sculptures and carvings seen on the building are intricately carved from teak wood using traditional techniques. As the building is still far from the completion, more and more sculptures and other elements of the building are constantly being made out everyday, there are areas in the building look like workshop, you will see many craftsmen working on site, and watching them carving things out is one of the most interesting things when visiting the Sanctuary of Truth.
Not all of craftsmen work on the ground floor, some of them will be installing the crafted figures onto the walls or ceilings, so you have to wear a white-colored hard hat, which will be offered to you on entry.
Compared to modern building materials like concrete or glass, wood is more susceptible to corrosion, especially in a seaside city with tropical climate, older parts of the structure will gradually be eroded by weather and climate, so while the new elements of the building are being constructed, older parts are intermittently being replaced by new pieces of wood.
Lek Viriyaphant chose to use wood to construct the building is because he wanted to demonstrate that nothing in life is permanent, which is one of the core beliefs in Buddhist teachings.
How to get to the Sanctuary of Truth
The address of the Sanctuary of Truth is 206/2 Moo 5, Soi Naklua 12.
Unlike Bangkok, there’s no BTS train, MRT, or bus in Pattaya, the closest alternative to them is songthaew. However the Sanctuary of Truth is not on one of the songthaew routes, so simply taking a songthaew cannot get you directly to there. But it’s still quite easy to get there by using one of methods listed below:
1. First take a songthaew from the Dolphin Roundabout, then walk a short distance
Although no songthaew routes pass though the Sanctuary directly, there’s a popular route not far from it.
You first take a songthaew to go to the Dolphin Roundabout (a lot of songthaews go to this roundabout, which is a roundabout in North Pattaya with a dolphin statue in the middle, near the iconic Dusit Thani Hotel on the north end of the main beach of Pattaya, and a Terminal 21 mall is located adjacent to it), from there transfer to another songthaew (most songthaews will turn back when they reach the Dolphin Roundabout, you don’t need to transfer if the songthaew doesn’t turn back) that heads to north along the Pattaya-Naklua Road, tell the driver to stop at the entrance to Naklua Soi 12 (also known as Naklua 12 Alley. Soi is a term in Thai referring to a road branching off a major road, Naklua Soi 12 is a branch road of Pattaya-Naklua Road on its west side), the fee is about 10 Baht per person.
After you get off, simply walk along Naklua Soi 12 towards west, the Sanctuary is located near the other end of the road, the walk takes about 10 to 15 minutes. If you don’t want to walk, you can take a motobike taxi instead, it will cost you about 30 Baht if you start from the entrance to Soi 12.
2. Charter a songthaew
If you see an empty songthaew at anywhere in the city, you can charter it to directly get to the Sanctuary of Truth, if you charter the songthaew, the driver will not drive by their default routes, but drive you the only passenger all the way to your destination, even it’s not on one of the default routes. Just tell the driver you’re going to Prasat Sat Ja Tum, as is the Sanctuary of Truth pronounced in Thai, alternatively, you can show an image of the Sanctuary to the driver, most local drivers can recognize it.
If you start from the Dolphin Roundabout, the price for getting you to the Sanctuary is about 100 Baht, the fee is about 10 times of that of the first option listed above, but the price will be the same if you have many others along with you, so it’s recommended to choose this option if you are traveling with your family members or friends.
3. Take a taxi or motorbike taxi
The easiest and most convenient way to go to the Sanctuary of Truth is by taking a taxi, though it’s also the priciest option, if you go to the Sanctuary from the Dolphin Roundabout by taxi, it will cost you about 130 Baht.
Like option 2, make sure to tell the driver that you are going to Prasat Sut Ja Tum, or show an image of the building to the driver.
Compared to a normal taxi, a motorbike taxi is cheaper to take, the price is about 80 Baht if you start from the Dolphin Roundabout.
