Lopburi province

Lopburi ลพบุรี
Province
(Clockwise from top left) Ridge of Pa Sak Jolasid Dam, Gate of King Narai's Palace, Sunflower fields in Phatthana Nikhom, Market by railway in Chai Badan, Sa Kaeo Roundabout, Phra Prang Sam Yot
Seal
Nicknames:  Lavo (Thai: ละโว้) Mueang Ling (lit. City of Monkeys)
Motto:  วังนารายณ์คู่บ้าน ศาลพระกาฬคู่เมือง ปรางค์สามยอดลือเลื่อง เมืองแห่งดินสอพอง เขื่อนป่าสักชลสิทธิ์เกริกก้อง แผ่นดินทองสมเด็จพระนารายณ์ ("King Narai's Palace, the pride of the land; San Phra Kan Shrine, the guardian of the city; Phra Prang Sam Yot, renowned through time; the land of Dinso Phong; Pa Sak Jolasid Dam, a resounding landmark; the golden realm of King Narai.")
Map of Thailand highlighting Lop Buri province
Country	Thailand
Capital	Lopburi
Government
• Governor	Amphon Angkapakornkun
• PAO Chief Executive	Orapin Jiraphanwanit
Area [1]
• Total	6,493 km2 (2,507 sq mi)
• Rank	31st
Population  (2024)[2]
• Total	725,266
• Rank	35th
• Density	112/km2 (290/sq mi)
• Rank	45th
Human Achievement Index [3]
• HAI (2022)	0.6529 "somewhat high" Ranked 23rd
GDP [4]
• Total	baht 112 billion (US$3.6 billion) (2019)
Time zone	UTC+7 (ICT)
Postal code	15xxx
Calling code	036
ISO 3166 code	TH-16
Vehicle registration	ลพบุรี
Website	lopburi.go.th

Lopburi (Thai: ลพบุรี, RTGS: Lop Buri,^[5] pronounced [lóp bū.rīː]) is a province in the central region of Thailand. The province is divided into 11 administrative districts, and Mueang Lopburi district is the capital. With over 720,000 people, the province is Thailand's 31st largest area and 35th most populous. There are eight neighboring provinces, Phetchabun, Chaiyaphum, Nakhon Ratchasima, Saraburi, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Ang Thong, Sing Buri, and Nakhon Sawan.

Lopburi is a significant province historically, where many historical structures, artifacts, and prehistoric settlements have been discovered. In the past, Lopburi was called by the name Lavo.The kingdom had been ruled by an absolute monarch.

Known as Lavo during much of its history, Lopburi probably dates to prehistoric times.^[6] The name Lavo originated from the capital city of Lavo kingdom, an ancient Mon kingdom of the Dvaravati period (6th–11th century CE).^[7] Khmer builders raised many of the temples that stand in the city. Lopburi sent its own embassies to China in 1115 and 1155, which has been read as a period of independence. The weight those embassies carry rests on a convention of the field, which David K. Wyatt states as the assumption that a tribute mission to the Chinese court indicates independence, or a bid for it. The mission of 1155 changed a reading of the Dong Mae Nang Mueang inscription: George Cœdès had held that Lopburi lacked the standing to have the officers the inscription names and assigned it to a king of Hariphunchai, then withdrew the objection in a footnote added while his article was in press and in 1968 stated a preference for Lopburi.^{[8]: 12–13, 19} A Dvaravati-period inscription from Lopburi, K. 577, names an adhipati Ārjava, chief of the Taṅgura people, as the son of the īśvara of Śāmbuka.^[9]: 412 Inscribed silver medallions reading śrī-dvāravatī-īśvara-puṇya are also recorded from this province, and from Nakhon Pathom, Ratchaburi, Suphan Buri, Sing Buri and Chai Nat. Most are chance finds of unknown provenance, many are in private collections, and forgeries have lately been noticed.^[9]: 402 The town also closes the eastern of two rows of ancient settlements that Phōngsi Wanasin and Thiwa Supcanya found above the 3.5-metre contour of the plain, running from Chainat through Inburi, Singburi and Phromburi.^[8]: 7

A dated object survives from the early 13th century. Seven lines of Khmer cut on the back of a headless stone Buddha at Lopburi record its making in 1213 by one Candasvāratana, in the posture beneath the Nāga's hood, together with the planting of a pipal tree; its reckoning of time is wholly Khmer, with no trace of the Tai system used six years later in the Phrae valley. Reviewing the sixteen dated inscriptions of 1168 to 1219, David K. Wyatt found no indication of Angkorian political or administrative power in those from Lopburi and Grahi, while Pracinburi and the Khorat Plateau remained within it; he added that the absence is not conclusive.^{[8]: 50–51}

Lopburi was also remembered as a place of study. The Mūlasāsanā names it with Ayojjhapura as a centre of learning in the early 14th century, and the Annals of the North have Ngam Mueang and Ram Khamhaeng studying the arts there under one teacher in 1254, neither of them for ordination.^[8]: 55 The name Cāmbūka, which Cœdès connected with the city of Śambhūkapaṭṭana in the Preah Khan inscription of 1191, occurs on a Dvaravati-style Buddha recovered at Lopburi; on that evidence he placed the city no more precisely than in the Menam valley.^[8]: 14 In 1289 it sent another embassy to China, but soon became part of the Thai kingdom of Sukhothai and later Ayutthaya.

During the Ayutthaya period, King Ramathibodi I sent Phra Ramesuan (later King Ramesuan) as the Uparaja to reign in Lopburi. In 1666 King Narai the Great ordered a new palace built on the east bank of the Lopburi River and made Lopburi the second capital of the country, as Ayutthaya was threatened by the Dutch. After King Narai died, the city was almost abandoned and fell into ruin.

In 1856 King Mongkut of the Chakri dynasty ordered King Narai's palace to be renovated. The city finally regained its importance in 1937, when Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram chose Lopburi to be the largest military base in Thailand and once was decide to be new capital city of Thailand after the end of World War II.^[10]

Lopburi is on the east side of the Chao Phraya River valley, between the Lopburi River and Pa Sak Rivers. Thirty percent of the area of the province, including most of Tha Wung district, the southwestern parts of Mueang Lopburi and Ban Mi districts are a very low alluvial plain. The other 70 percent is mixed plains and hills, with the Phetchabun Mountains forming the eastern boundary of the province towards the Khorat Plateau. The total forest area is 962 km² (371 sq mi) or 14.8 percent of provincial area.^[11]

Lopburi province has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen climate classification category Aw). Winters are dry and warm. Temperatures rise until May. Monsoon season runs from May through October, with heavy rain and somewhat cooler temperatures during the day, although nights remain warm. Climatic statistics: Its maximum temperature is 41.4 °C (106.5 °F) in April and the lowest temperature is 10.2 °C (50.4 °F) in December. The highest average temperature is 36.8 °C (98.2 °F) and the minimum average temperature is 20.6 °C (69.1 °F). Annual average rainfall is 1,125 millimeters with mean rainy days is 17.6 in September. Maximum daily rainfall is 203.4 millimeters in October.^[13]

The provincial seal shows Vishnu in front of the Khmer temple Phra Prang Sam Yod,^[14] designed in 1940s. In 2026, Thai Government designed a new provincial seal by replacing an image of the god Vishnu with a graphic of the Monument of King Narai which is situated in Lopburi city.^[15]

The escutcheon of Lopburi shows Vishnu and in the background Phra Prang Sam Yod, the "Sanctuary with the Three Towers". It refers to King Narai who in 1664 fortified the city to be used as an alternative capital when Ayutthaya was threatened by a Dutch naval blockade.^[16]

The provincial tree as well as the provincial flower is the bullet wood.^[17] The provincial aquatic life is the Java barb (Barbonymus gonionotus).

The slogan of the province is King Narai's Palace, The pride of the land; San Phra Kan Shrine, the Guardian of the City; Phra Prang Sam Yot, renowned through time; the land of Dinso Phong; Pa Sak Jolasid Dam, a resounding landmark; the golden realm of King Narai.

Lopburi's main hospital is King Narai Hospital, operated by the Ministry of Public Health.

• Thepsatri Rajabhat University
• Kasetsart University, Lopburi Campus
• Ramkhamhaeng University, Lopburi Campus
• Pibul Wittayalai School

• San Phra Kan
• Phra Prang Sam Yot
• King Narai's Palace
• Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat
• Ban Chao Phraya Wichayen
• Prang Khaek
• Wat Khao Wong Prachan
• Wang Kan Lueang Waterfall
• Pa Sak Jolasid Dam and the railway viaduct ("the floating railway")
• Sunflower fields of Phatthana Nikhom

• King Narai Reign Fair (งานแผ่นดินสมเด็จพระนารายณ์): Event held annually, it is considered the greatest fair of the province. The objective is to honour King Narai the Great, who used to live here. The highlight is that all Lopburi people are dressed in traditional Thai clothes throughout the province and there is a sound and light performance at the King Narai's Palace in the evening. This fair is promoted by Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).^[21][22]
• Monkey Buffet Festival (เทศกาลโต๊ะจีนลิง): Annually buffet held during November for herd of macaques that live at ancient Khmer temple, Phra Prang Sam Yot and nearby Phra Kan Shrine in the centre of province, which they are like a symbol of the province. It was first organized in the year 1989.^[23]
• Climbing Up Khao Wong Phra Chan Festival (ประเพณีขึ้นเขาวงพระจันทร์): Pilgrimage inscription by climbing up 3,790 steps of Khao Wong Phrachan (crescent moon hill), the province's highest hill that located in Khok Samrong district for pay homage to replica of the Lord Buddha's footprint and Buddha statues that enshrined on the top of the hill. This festival is usually held on the Chinese New Year period and has been very popular, especially from Thai people of Chinese descent.^[24]

Health	Education	Employment	Income
25	16	23	45
Housing	Family	Transport	Participation
47	40	51	50
Province Lopburi, with an HAI 2022 value of 0.65297 is "somewhat high", occupies place 23 in the ranking.

Since 2003, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Thailand has tracked progress on human development at sub-national level using the Human achievement index (HAI), a composite index covering all the eight key areas of human development. National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) has taken over this task since 2017.^[3]

Map with provinces and HAI 2022 rankings

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lopburi.

• Website of province (Thai)
• Lopburi provincial map, coat of arms and postal stamp Archived 21 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine

14°48′2″N 100°39′5″E / 14.80056°N 100.65139°E / 14.80056; 100.65139