Visual Index of Lamphun Sites (Site name and description)
	Wat Ku Kut (early 13th century) One of the last surviving examples of Mon architecture in Thailand.		Wat Mahawan (unknown age) A heavily renovated temple with an interesting ho trai.
	Wat Pa Sang Ngam (19th century) Incorporates a European-inspired ho trai.		Wat Phra That Haripunchai (15th century) One of the most important wats in Lanna.
	Wat Phra Yeun (1370) The 'Monastery of the Standing Buddha'.		Wat San Kamphaeng (unknown age) Here, an old ho trai stands on an island in a pond.

About Lamphun

Lamphun was originally known as Haripunchai, and the kingdom that later flourished around the same area took this name for itself. The town of Haripunchai was likely founded in the early ninth century, though tradition holds it to have been established by the hermit-monk Vasudeva in 661. According to legend, at Vasudeva's invitation, the Mon ruler of Lopburi sent his daughter, Chamathewi, to rule the town. Although there is no archaeological basis for this legend, it is known that Mon rulers held a firm grip on the area until the 11th century, when they began to be challenged by the Khmers. Skirmishes likely raged between the two sides in the ensuing years, but there is no evidence that the Khmers maintained any sort of permanent hold on the area. In any case, the Khmer empire as a whole declined by the mid-13th century, whereupon King Mangrai of Lanna decisively attacked the Haripunchai kingdom, seizing Haripunchai itself in 1281 and incorporating it into his kingdom.

Like most towns of Mon origin, Lamphun as a whole was originally laid out in the shape of a conch or an oval, though this is less evident today.