Official Name: | Wat Phraya Krai |
Native Name: | วัดพระยาไกร |
Settlement Type: | Khwaeng |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Type2: | Province |
Subdivision Name2: | Bangkok |
Subdivision Type3: | Khet |
Subdivision Name3: | Bang Kho Laem |
Area Total Km2: | 2.300 |
Area Footnotes: | [1] |
Population As Of: | 2020 |
Population Total: | 24198 |
Timezone: | ICT |
Utc Offset: | +7 |
Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
Blank Name: | TIS 1099 |
Wat Phraya Krai (Thai: วัดพระยาไกร, in Thai pronounced as /wát pʰrā.jāː krāj/) is one of three khwaeng (sub-district) of Bang Kho Laem district, Bangkok. It has a total area of 2.300 km2 (round about 0.888 mi2[2]) west side along Chao Phraya river and in late 2017, it had a total population of 26,681 people.[3]
Its name means "Phraya Krai Temple", which comes from the namesake temple that used to be located here in the past. It is assumed that the temple was built before 1801. Later, Phraya Shoduek Ratchasetthi (magnate Boonma), who was the former governor for King Nangklao (Rama III), restored the temple as a royal monastery, renaming the temple to "Wat Chotanaram", and also enshrined the famous Golden Buddha image at this temple (currently enshrined at Wat Traimit in Chinatown).[4]
Later in the reign of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), the temple had no patrons to maintain the temple and was abandoned.[5] The chapel, including other buildings, went into ruins, eventually turning into free land for the East Asiatic Company to rent for the location as its head office in Bangkok (currently Asiatique The Riverfront). But the name Wat Phraya Krai still appears to this day as the name of the sub-district and locations within that sub-district, such as Watprayakrai Police Station and Wat Phraya Krai Post Office etc.[6]