Thao Suranari Monument
อนุสาวรีย์ท้าวสุรนารี
A memorial to the courage of Thailand's heroine Thao Suranari, known to everyone here as Ya Mo. It was raised in 1933 and stands in the middle of the city; visitors and Korat residents alike come to make offerings and ask for her blessing. The figure is cast in blackened copper, 1.85 metres tall and weighing 325 kilograms, dressed in the regalia she was granted, standing with her right hand on a sword whose point rests on the ground and her left hand at her hip. She faces west, towards Bangkok. The plinth beneath her, a redented square, holds her ashes. Thao Suranari was born Khunying Mo, wife of the deputy governor of Nakhon Ratchasima. In 1826, when Prince Anouvong of Vientiane took the city, she gathered the townspeople to fight — and stopped his army from marching on Bangkok. King Rama III raised her to the rank of Thao Suranari for it. Every year from 23 March to 3 April the city holds a festival marking the day of her victory.
In pictures
