5 Must-Visit Temples in Bangkok: Exploring A Spiritual Journey
Bangkok, Thailand’s bustling capital, is renowned for magnificent temples.
Temples are not only places of worship but also serve as architectural masterpieces and cultural treasures.
Let’s go to see
The Best Temples in Bangkok that You Must Visit
Temple of The Emerald Buddha
This temple is the first destination for coming to Bangkok. Temple of The Emerald Buddha or as the locals call it, Wat Phra Kaew. King Rama I ordered the building of this temple along with the establishment of the Rattanakosin era in 1782 and completed in 1784.
The Rattanakosin era is the current historical period of Thailand when King Rama I moved the capital to Bangkok.
It is a temple in the area of the Grand Palace. This concept follows the style of the Ayutthaya period, Wat Phra Si Sanphet was in the palace. The Temple of The Emerald Buddha is a temple where no monks are residing. There is only the Buddhist part. Inside the temple is an enshrined ‘The Emerald Buddha’. This Buddha image is in meditation posture and magnificent by the material. The entire statue is the same green gem. The width is 48.3 cm. and the height from the base to the top of the head is 66 cm. People come to revere and worship for auspicious.
Temple of Reclining Buddha
This is an iconic temple with an interesting history. Wat Pho is the name as the locals call it. Wat Phra Chetuphon is the full name. Moreover, Wat Pho is the first university in Thailand because it is a place to collect inscriptions from various fields of study.
The best known of this temple is the famous Wat Phra Chetuphon Traditional Medicine School.
UNESCO registered Wat Pho as a World Heritage Site of the Asia-Pacific region in March 2008.
On June 16, 2011, UNESCO also registered that the 1,440 pieces of the Epigraphic Archives of Wat Pho are World Heritage.
What you shouldn’t miss when you come to Wat Pho is the Reclining Buddha Statue. This is a symbolic image of this temple including the beauty in the form of Thai style that you can’t take your eyes off. The stature is in the hall which is exquisite by old painting. This statue is the largest reclining Buddha statue in Bangkok and it is the 3rd largest in Thailand.
Temple of Dawn
The famous landmark which people often see on postcards or travel books about Thailand is the Temple of Dawn or Wat Arun. It is a popular tourist destination located along the Chao Phraya River. This temple is outstanding with its tall and elegant pagoda.
Many people come to Wat Arun to pay homage to the sacred things inside the temple. Not only the beauty during the daytime, but also at night, there are beautiful lights. Especially, if you view from the other side of the temple across the Chao Phraya River.
Apart from the beautiful and admirable pagodas. There are also architecture and many fabulous statues inside the temple. The wonderful highlight is the demons who guard the door. They are a famous spot. The art of these demon figures is in an ancient novel named Ramayana, Hindu literature which was created in the beliefs of Buddhism.
The Golden Mount Temple
There is one temple that you can see from a far distance in the area of Bangkok. Because its tall and elegant golden stupa is noticeable. That is The Golden Mount Temple. The name in the Thai language is ‘Wat Saket Ratchaworamahawihan’ or Wat Saket. Some people calls it Wat Phu Khao Thong. The temple is old by building since the Ayutthaya period. (Ayutthaya is the era before the current era around 670 years ago).
In the past, people call Wat Sakae. Later, King Rama I ordered renovation and canalization around the monastery. The king gave it a new name Wat Saket. This means purifying the hair. Because this temple is a place for the royal ceremony (bathing) when the king came back from Cambodia to quell riots in the Thonburi area.
Inside the temple, there are many sacred things to worship. When we enter the chapel, this houses the large Buddha image in the posture of meditation. The walls surrounding the temple have paintings about angels and goddess. There is pictures of the Buddha’s history about subduing mara (defeating evils) posture, ten incarnations of the Lord Buddha, and the story of The Three Planes of Existence, Traibhumikatha.
When you walk up the stairs, not only the beautiful area at the top, it is good for exercise with 344 steps. There are some resting places along the way.
Golden Buddha Temple
Most Thai people simply call this temple ‘Wat Traimit’. It is an ancient temple in Samphanthawong District which is close to Yaowarat Road, Chinatown, the famous street food in Thailand. Before you go to find something delicious to eat in Chinatown, it is an awesome idea to view the magnificence of this temple.
Before the king change the name to ‘Wat Traimit’ as it is today, in the past, the name of this temple is ‘Wat Sam Chin’. Chin means Chinese. Three Chinese people helped build this temple to make merit.
The important highlight of this temple is The Golden Buddha Image. The name of this Buddha image is ‘Phra Phuttha Maha Suwan Patimakorn’.
This is ‘The Largest Pure Gold Buddha Statue In The World’ by the Guinness World Records.
This golden Buddha statue has a lap width of 3.01 meters and a height of 3.91 meters. The Buddha image can be separated into 9 pieces. The material is 40% pure gold. The face of the figure is 80% gold. The hair weighs 45 kilograms which is 99.99% pure gold. Its value is as high as 21.1 million pounds. This Buddha image has been the important Buddha stature of the city long ago. This is because the refinement of Buddhist art, the ingenuity of the components that make up the mechanical key, and the enormous value of pure gold.
These are 5 temples that should not be missed when visiting Bangkok. Not just a beautiful temple but also the exquisite beauty of invaluable art, architecture, paintings, and many more for you to see and enjoy.