  the sukhothai historical park ( (pronunciation)) covers the ruins of sukhothai, which literally means "dawn of happiness", capital of the sukhothai kingdom in the 13th and 14th centuries, in what is now the north of thailand. it is located near the modern city of sukhothai, capital of the province with the same name. the city walls form a rectangle about 2&nbsp;km east-west by 1.6&nbsp;km north-south. there are 193 ruins on 70 square kilometers of land. there is a gate in the centre of each wall. inside are the remains of the royal palace and twenty-six temples, the largest being wat mahathat. the park is maintained by the fine arts department of thailand with help from unesco, which has declared it a world heritage site. the park sees thousands of visitors each year, who marvel at the ancient buddha figures, palace buildings and ruined temples. the park is easily toured by bicycle or even on foot. == history == ===liberation from lawo=== left|220px|thumb|wat si sawai, sukhothai historical park prior to the 13th century, tai kingdoms had existed on the northern highlands including the ngoenyang (centered on chiang saen; predecessor of lanna) kingdom and the heokam (centered on chiang hung, modern jinghong in china) kingdom of tai lue people. sukhothai had been a trade center and part of lawo, which was under the domination of the khmer empire. the migration of tai people into upper chao phraya valley was somewhat gradual. modern historians stated that the secession of sukhothai (once known as sukhodaya) from the khmer empire began as early as 1180 during the reign of pho khun sri naw namthom who was the ruler of sukhothai and the peripheral city of sri satchanalai (now a part of sukhothai province as amphoe). sukhothai had enjoyed a substantial autonomy until it was re-conquered around 1180 by the [[mon
Archaeological_sites_in_Thailand Buildings_and_structures_in_Sukhothai_Province Former_populated_places_in_Thailand Historic_Town_of_Sukhothai_and_Associated_Historic_Towns Historical_parks_of_Thailand Visitor_attractions_in_Sukhothai_Province World_Heritage_Sites_in_Thailand