WAT PHO

Description

Essentials about Wat Pho in brief

A visit to Bangkok is only complete when you have seen Wat Pho. Located in the heart of the Old City, directly south of the Grand Palace, the Royal Temple First Class is both the oldest and the largest in Bangkok. It delights thousands and thousands of visitors every day, especially with its approximately 1,000 Buddha figures, of which the 46-meter-long and gilded reclining Buddha is the most famous and impressive. Actually, Wat Pho is called Wat Phra Chettuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram Ratchaworamahawihan. But because this is too long even for locals, it is still called by its historical name Wat Photharam, which is supposed to remind of the Monastery of the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya.

The history of Wat Pho

Since about 80,000 square meters large temple complex of Wat Pho may have been founded as early as the 17th century. For the foundation of his new capital Bangkok, King Rama I restored and expanded the temple and gave it its current name. All further kings of the Chakri dynasty also extended and restored the Royal Temple.

The complex of Wat Pho

The main attraction of the temple is the famous 46-meter-long and 15-meter-high gilded reclining Buddha statue. A reclining Buddha of this size is nothing unusual in Thailand – numerous temples in the country can boast of oversized Buddha statues. The special feature of the reclining Buddha of Wat Pho, however, is its gilding. Numerous layers of gold leaf were applied over a basic form made of bricks and plaster. For the 60th birthday of King Bhumibol, the Buddha was decorated with about one million small gold leaves.

The Buddha statue was built in 1832 under King Rama III. The reclining Buddha symbolizes the Buddha’s entry into nirvana and the end of all reincarnations. Special attention should also be paid to the Buddha’s feet. They are made of mother-of-pearl inlay and show symbols of Buddha such as flowers, dancers, elephants, tigers and altar decorations on 108 “panels”.

Besides the reclining Buddha, the 95 porcelain-decorated cheddis are a special feature of Wat Pho. They impress with their colorful mosaics. The four highest cheddis tower over the temple complex with a height of 42 meters and honor various kings.

The ubosot of the temple was built under King Rama I. It houses Phra Phuttha Thewa Patimakon, a seated Buddha statue in Ayutthaya style. The mortal remains of King Rama I were interred in its base. The balustrade around the ubosot features 152 square reliefs on its exterior depicting the Ramakien (the Thai version of the Indian national epic Ramayana).

Wat Pho as a place of knowledge and teaching

And last but not least, it should be mentioned that Wat Pho can also be considered Thailand’s first “open” university. King Rama III, during the renovation of the temple in 1831-1841, had over 1,400 wall inscriptions and paintings installed, recording Thai poetry, treatises on traditional healing and massage, botany, astrology, the art of war, history and religion, as well as listing the provinces and religious institutions of the empire at the time, as well as foreign peoples. These were open to the public and can therefore in some ways be described as a kind of first “people’s university” of Thailand. Since 2011, the epigraphic archive of Wat Pho has been included in UNESCO’s World Documentary Heritage.

Wat Pho still has the greatest importance today as a place of preservation and teaching of traditional Thai medicine and Thai massage. In 1955, a school was established on the temple grounds to teach Thai pharmacy, Thai medicine, Thai obstetrics and Thai massage. To this day, the school is Thailand’s center of knowledge for traditional Thai medicine and massage. If you don’t want to enroll in a degree program right away, you can at least get a wonderful massage for a fee.