Northern Thailand Cultural Heritage
Luong Poh Pha-Ngao
Luong Poh Pha-Ngao was discovered on the 17th March 1976. After the temple patrons cleared away the forest for a new temple. The forest was full of stumps, roots and stones. After clearing up the area they found a small wall of bricks underneath a big stump. When the wall was broken they found a mask inside and a nice statue of Buddha benind. The archaeologist guessed that the statue was during 700 - 1,300 years old. All temple patrons called this statue "Luong Poh Pha-Ngao" and changed the name of the temple as Wat Phrathat Pha-Ngao until nowadays.
The name of this Wat was derived from the name of ancient pagoda which is situated on a big stone. Pha-Ngao means the shadow of the stone because the stone is big and tall, it's suitable for making a good shadow. Therefore, the people called this pagoda "Phrathat Pha-Ngao. The formaer name is Wat Sobkam., which was situated on the bank of Khong river.
	It's believed that during the peiod of Yonok Kingdom, this forsaken temple was very thrived and prosperous. presumably, it was the tutelary temple of the old city because it;s found that Luong Poh Pha-Ngao was hidden by deep burying underneath the largest image of Buddha for preventing from stolen collectors.