Wat Phra That Hariphunchai Woramahawihan

Legend says Hariphunchai was founded by Queen Chamadevi. King Athitayarat of her dynasty later found Buddha relics within his palace, gave the palace to become a temple, removed its outer wall and built a square laterite chedi of about 12 sok (6 m) with four gateways, enshrining relics of the Buddha's head, breastbone and finger and a bowlful of smaller relics.

Sources disagree on the date. The Jinakalamali chronicle says Athitayarat came to the throne in CS 409 (1047) and built the chedi 16 years later, around 1063, close to MGR Online's 1064; the Yonok chronicle gives 1043, matching Wikipedia's 1044. Khaosod gives 897, and Kapook and the provincial Buddhism office 1108. Lamphun province says broadly the 11th–12th centuries CE.

Queen Pathumwadi, Athitayarat's consort, built a chedi at the same time, now called the Suwanna Chedi, northwest of the main chedi: a square, five-tier stepped pyramid of laterite and brick with Buddha niches, akin to the Ku Kut chedi at Wat Chamadevi. Wikipedia dates the present structure to about 1418. It is linked to the famous Phra Poem amulet of Lamphun.

After King Mangrai took Hariphunchai in the late 13th century, he rebuilt the chedi from a prasat form into a round Lankan-style chedi, though MGR Online describes a five-spired prasat, so the form at this stage is uncertain. Around 1408 King Saen Mueang Ma gilded the chedi for the first time.

King Tilokarat, with the monk Phra Maha Medhangkarayan, enlarged the chedi into the Lanna bell shape seen today, 92 sok tall on a 52-sok base, and built the enclosing wall. Most sources date this to 1447, but Wikipedia gives 1443. The 3 m lion pair at the main gate is also attributed to this period and was restored in 1956.

Under King Mueang Kaeo, inscription LP.15 of about 1500 records the founding of the scripture hall. In 1511 the chedi was sheathed in copper and re-gilded, with a railing around it, and in 1514 the main viharn was built. Nirat Hariphunchai, a poem of about 720 lines on a pilgrimage from Chiang Mai to the relic, probably dates from around 1517–18.

The scripture hall has a brick lower storey and a carved, gilded timber upper storey, and once held the Tripitaka and about 420 palm-leaf bundles. Its founding inscription is now in the Hariphunchai National Museum. Wikipedia dates the present building to the 19th century.

In 1786 King Kawila placed gold-tipped umbrellas at the chedi's four corners. In 1860 the ruler of Chiang Mai cast and donated a giant gong, which Wikipedia calls the world's largest, though other sources rank it second to Mandalay's Mahamuni, so "one of the largest" is safer. Under Chao Luang Daradirekrattanaphairot, Lamphun's 7th ruler (r. 1871–90), a large bronze bell was cast.

The storm that wrecked the main viharn is dated three ways: 1915 by Watportal, 1923 by the provincial Buddhism office, and the TAT office dates the present hall to 1925. A Silpakorn journal says Khruba Siwichai's first restoration project was rebuilding the main viharn around 1920. Its principal image is Phra Maha Muni Si Hariphunchai, while some sources mention Phra Kaeo Khao on a gilded throne.

Khruba Siwichai, the revered Lanna monk, was held at this temple by the local sangha around 1910–11; a gilded image of him now marks the spot. He later returned to lead restorations in the 1920s–30s. In 1926 King Prajadhipok bathed the chedi during his tour of the northern provinces, as shown in photographs cited by an academic journal. In 1938 Khruba Kham Fu built the bell and gong towers.

The Fine Arts Department registered the temple as an ancient monument in the Royal Gazette on 8 March 1935, with a further notice on 30 October 1979, according to Watportal. The date it was raised to Woramahawihan has not been found, and provincial PR in 2026 still says Worawihan. It counts among Thailand's eight great relic chedis and is the birth-year chedi for those born in the Year of the Rooster.

On 19 February 2013 the temple was listed as Lamphun provincial heritage. A chedi here also appears on the 1-satang coin, minted 1987–2007 according to Numista, though sources disagree whether it is the main chedi or the Suwanna Chedi.

The present chedi is a Lanna bell shape sheathed in gilded copper, about 46 m (92 sok) tall, though a Payap University document gives about 51 m. It stands within a double sattabanchon railing with four small Buddha pavilions and golden boats on the north and south. Around it are many viharns, including Phra Lawo, Phra Phut, Phra Thanjai, the Four Footprints, the Reclining Buddha and Phra Chao Daeng, plus the Phra Mueang Kaeo museum with its candelabra, scripture chest and great drum.

The biggest annual event is the Phra That Hariphunchai bathing festival, beginning on the 9th waxing day of the northern eighth month and peaking on Paet Peng, the full moon. Rites include inviting Phra Upakut from the Kuang River, raising the water pole, a procession of royal bathing water and holy water from Doi Khamo, and hoisting the water up to bathe the chedi. In 2026 it ran from 25 April to 1 May, with Paet Peng on Friday 1 May — not the same as central Thailand's Visakha Bucha (31 May 2026) — so check dates each year.

In 2025 the bathing festival ran from 5 to 11 May, with Paet Peng on 11 May coinciding with Visakha Bucha. Earlier, the 2012 festival ran from 29 April to 5 May, and in 2009 the main day fell on 8 May.

Since 2012 the temple has held the Khom Saen Duang lantern festival, begun for the 2,600th anniversary of the Enlightenment with about 3,000 lanterns. In 2023 it ran from 4 October to 27 November with over 100,000 lanterns, and the Ministry of Culture named it one of 16 festivals to promote internationally. The 13th edition in 2025 ran from October to 10 November. Visitors can buy a lantern, write a wish and hang it as an offering.

The 2026 lantern festival, probably the 14th, runs from 1 October to 30 November 2026; by 15 October more than 30,000 lanterns had been hung.

Other events include New Year prayers and wrapping the chedi in cloth, a robe procession on Makha Bucha (3 March in 2026) and the Tan Kuay Salak merit festival around September. On 30 April 2025 the temple held chanting at the main viharn for Princess Dipangkorn's birthday.

The temple opens about 06:00–21:00; Thais enter free and foreigners pay 20 baht. Next door is the Hariphunchai National Museum, and the Lamphun town tram starts at the temple, running Tuesday–Sunday at 09:30 and 13:30 with 10 stops including Wat Chamadevi and the Chamadevi monument; adults pay 50 baht.