Wat Phra That Chae Haeng

Legend says the Buddha came to the bank of the Nan River, where Phraya Monlarat offered him a dried myrobalan; he soaked it (chae) before eating and prophesied that relics would one day rest here — hence "Chae Haeng". A chronicle variant ties the name to logs soaked in a stream until it ran dry; both are folk tales.

Phaya Kan Mueang, a Phukha-dynasty ruler of Mueang Pua (Wora Nakhon), went to help King Lithai of Sukhothai build Wat Luang Aphai (Wat Pa Mamuang). In return Lithai gave him seven Buddha relics with 20 gold and 20 silver votive tablets, a sign of friendship between Sukhothai and Nan.

After consulting the senior monk Thammaban, Phaya Kan Mueang chose Doi Phu Phiang Chae Haeng for the relics. Khaosod's Technology Chaoban says he cast a large bronze reliquary, sealed it in lime mortar, buried it a wa deep and built a brick chedi one wa high over it.

Founding dates vary. Tourism copy often gives 1348 (BE 1891), but Nan province counts the chedi as 673 years old in 2026, matching construction in 1353 (BE 1896), which TopNews (25 Feb 2026) also states. The scholarly date of about 1359 (BE 1902) refers to the relic enshrinement and the move of the city, not the start of construction.

Around 1359 Phaya Kan Mueang moved his people from Wiang Pua to found Wiang Phu Phiang Chae Haeng, with the chedi at its centre on the highest point of the walled town. Earth dug for the walls and chedi became Nong Tao pond, which gave Ban Nong Tao its name, and in 2023 the town's 670th anniversary was celebrated.

In 1368, after a drought, his son Phaya Phakong moved the city across to the west bank of the Nan River at Ban Huai Khrai, the site of today's Nan. Phra That Chae Haeng thus marks Nan's early capital, which lasted only about a decade.

Later, Thao Kha Kan, who ruled Nan for about five years around 1474–80, rediscovered the relics and built a chedi six wa high over them, according to Kannika Wimonkasem's 2024 study of the chronicles.

The great viharn was rebuilt on the orders of Chao Fa Sawatthi, ruler of Chiang Mai under Burmese rule, with Nan's ruler Phaya No Kham Chai Sathian Songkhram overseeing the work. The chronicles say timber was gathered in 1581, the old viharn taken down by 1584, the new one built in 1585 according to an inscription, and completed around 1588; the inscription was found behind the viharn and moved to Chiang Mai in 1988.

Khaosod says a major restoration around 1610 encased the old chedi in a larger one clad in brass-copper and added inner and outer walls, which fits Thai Post's note that the present form is Lanna style from later restorations.

In 1790 Chao Atthawarapanyo, Nan's first ruler under the Rattanakosin kingdom, and his family commissioned a life-size wooden Buddha subduing Mara from craftsman Mun Si Sapphachang, with an inscription in Lanna Dhamma script on its base. The viharn's principal image is Phra Chao Lan Thong, and the temple also has Phra Chao Un Mueang, Phra Chao Than Jai and a reclining-Buddha hall.

The Bo Kaeo well, whose water is used in the temple's ceremonies, was dug in 1830 (BE 2373), according to two sources.

The chedi is a Lanna bell-shaped stupa modelled on Phra That Hariphunchai in Lamphun, clad in thong changko (a brass-copper alloy), not solid gold. Most sources give its height as 55.5 m on a 22.5 m square base, though Khaosod gives 43.49 m on a 19.25 m base.

The chedi's height is unsettled: sources give 55.5 m, 43.49 m, and one temple database "2 sen" (about 80 m). The Fine Arts Department gives no figure.

Twin naga balustrades climb the hill to the chedi, and the viharn's gable bears stucco intertwined nagas, a hallmark of Nan craftsmen. There are also satellite chedis at the base and corners, a white Burmese-style replica chedi and a Buddha-footprint hall.

The 24 March 2011 Tachileik earthquake cracked the chedi, and a later quake centred in Laos tilted the core of the spire and snapped the wire holding the umbrella. On 8 May 2023 a restoration billed as the biggest in 100 years was announced with Fine Arts Department approval, using 12 kg of gold for a new finial in the original design, which was raised on Sunday 3 September 2023.

An earthquake on 21 November 2019 damaged the top of the chedi. In December 2020 the Fine Arts Department set a restoration budget of 35,793,000 baht, paid by the temple, for structural repair, re-gilding, the walls and terrace, lightning protection and a new finial, leading on to the 2023 gold-finial project.

The main annual festival is Hok Peng, the worship of Phra That Chae Haeng on the 11th–15th waxing days of the northern sixth month, around late February to early March, with offerings processions from 15 districts, long-life rites, robing of the chedi, candlelit processions, drum contests and rockets. In 2025 it ran 7–13 March and launched Ban Nong Tao as a model community-tourism village.

The 2026 Hok Peng festival ran from 25 February to 3 March, opening on 25 February at 10:09. On 2 March came a procession of royal offerings, and on Makha Bucha day, 3 March, royally granted robes and sermon offerings from Princess Sirindhorn were presented.

On 14 March 2025 the abbot, Phra Ratchanantawatcharabandit (Thammawat Charanathammo), deputy head of the Nan Sangha, led a ceremony to begin a new pair of swan pillars and great banners (tung luang) to replace lost originals that old photographs show at the foot of the naga stairway.

People born in the Year of the Rabbit believe that paying respect at their birth-year chedi brings a smooth life, good health and career success. In 2023, a Rabbit year, TAT ran a "Rabbits down the Nan" campaign offering discounts on hotels and restaurants to Rabbit-year visitors.