Portuguese Settlement

The ruins of the Dominican Church of San Petro were located within the Portuguese settlement. Portuguese came to Siam as early as 1511. Their ships arrived at the port of Ayutthaya with merchants, shipbuilders, and soldiers of fortune. The first Dominican missionaries arrived in Siam in 1567 and were given residence in one of the best locations in the city. After the Burmese attack of Ayutthaya in 1569, new priests arrived and the Roman Catholic parish grew. The church of San Petro for the Dominican sect (locally called Ban Jacobin) was one of the three parishes set up in the Portuguese settlement. The settlement was destroyed during the Burmese attack of Ayutthaya in 1767. On 21 March 1767, the Dominican parish priest surrendered to the Burmese together with its Christians. Two days later the Dominican church was plundered. The remains of the church are still viewable at the foundation level. However, the highlight of this site is the graveyard containing a large number of skeletons. The skeletons include males, females, and children in layered positions that can be almost surrealistic to view. These excavations were done starting in the 1980s. (*)(+)

Ayutthaya Historical Research