This lovely temple dates from 1345 and is one of the focal points of Songkran festivities each April 13-15 when people bathe the revered Phra Buddha Sing image. The temple compound includes the lovely Lai Kham chapel with its exquisite woodcarvings and northern-style murals, and a magnificent scriptural repository with striking bas relief.
Wat Pra Sing is perhaps the largest and most interesting temple within the Old city Walls, although it may not seem so at first glance. Upon entering the main gate, you're greeted by a large and dusty parking area. Across the lot is a large Ubosot with an intricately carved front. This is your first clue that there's more here than there might appear. The alter on the right is the one inside the main bot. Its beautiful, though rather standard for Thai temples these days. In any temple that gets visitors, there is almost always a donation box with a guest book for you to write your name and amount donated in. Well, in this temple there were at least half a dozen boxes, each with a different purpose -- maintenance of the temple building, electricity, taxes, etc. -- and so each with its own account book. Upon making a donation to one or more purpose, you then have to scrabble around for the proper book to write it down in.
As you face the Ubosot, to your right is a small elaborate ho trai built on a high stone base. The base has many beautiful carvings which have recently been renovated. Continuing on around the complex in a counter-clockwise direction, you'll find a drum tower set in a yard shaded by many old trees. Sometimes there's an artist or two at work here, and selling their work of course. Directly behind the main Ubosot is a large whitewashed chedi.
Next to it is a small but very ornate Viharn which is worth a closer look. The outside is decorated in gold and ochre in a style which is ornate but without the gaudiness of many other temples. The decoration inside is also quite rich. There is a brocade-like gold and red pattern on parts of the roof and back wall behind the alter. On the alter here (and not on the alter of the main bot) sits the Pra Sing from whom the temple takes its name. "Pra" is Thai for a priest or cleric and also used to refer to Buddha images. "Sing" means lion, but may be a corruption of the Thai word for Sri Lanka, where the image is supposed to come from. Wat Pra Sing was founded in the 14^th century to enshrine the ashes of King Kam Fu.