This statue was built in A.D. 1999 in order to honour King Naresuan the Great who reclaimed sovereign of Ayutthaya after Ayutthaya had lost a battle with Burma (Myeanmar) and became a vassal state of Burma. This monument reminds Thai people of the bravery of King Naresuan. In addition, it is a project to promote Thung Phukhao Thong neighbourhood as a tourist destination of Ayutthaya.
This statue is an equestrian one on a white stand and porch, in order to imitate the event when King Naresuan rode on a horse’ back to fight and kill Lak Wai Tham Mu, a leading soldier of King of Hongsawadi. Around the stand of the statute, there is a relief-bas work consisting of 11 frames that depict the highlighted events in King Naresuan’s life such as the announcement of sovereign in Khraeng city, the event when King Naresuan held a machete in his mouth and climbed up the wall of the camp of King Nanthaburaeng and the event when King Naresuan shot a gun across Satong River.
The construction of the statue of King Naresuan the Great was a project from the idea of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of His Majesty King Rama IX who suggested that the monument should be built on Phukhao Thong Field as the continuous project after the construction of the monument of Queen Si Suriyothai on Makham Yong Field nearby.
Location: Outside the city island to the northwest, Phukhao Thong Sub-district, at the entrance to Phukhao Thong Temple, from No. 309 High Way (Ayutthaya – Ang Thong).