The Emerald Buddha

The number one destination within the Grand Palace/Wat Phra Kaew complex is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. In fact, the Wat Phra Kaew was built to house the venerated sculpture after it was recpatured from Laos. The exterior of the ordination hall is quite beautiful, whose tall, rectangular columns are covered with patterns of colored glass and accented with gold colors. Delicately painted floral designs embellish pastel green tiles. Along the base of the hall are Garudas holding Nagas, a motif which is supposed to keep away evil spirits. Khemer-style lions appear to guard the entry.

Shoes off, visitors enter the side door. Cameras are not allowed either, so the only potential photo is taken from the outside. On the walls, richly decorated murals depict the life of Buddha. The thick scent of incense fills the air. On either side of the main altar are multiple Buddha figures, two of which are 3 meters high and covered in gold and precious gems.

Like the Mona Lisa, visitors may be surprised at the Emerald Buddha's diminuitive height (somewhere around 66cm (26 in). Since you can't get close to it, the sculpture seems even smaller. It sits high above everything else in a golden traditional Thai-style throne made of gilded-carved wood. Also like the Mona Lisa, the Emerald Buddha is encased in glass. Three times a year the king himself changes the Emerald Buddha's royal robes, making the beginning of a new season.


Little seems to be certain about the Emerald Buddha. Dates and places of origin varies - between 43 BC to the 1400's, with places ranging from India to Sri Lanka, to northern Thailand. In 1434 it was discovered in a stupa in Chiang Rai. It was only later when the abbot who found the sculpture and noticed that the plaster on the nose had flaked off, that it was realized that this was no ordinary Buddha iamge. Originally mistaken as being made of emeralds, it was later determined that the sculpture is actually carved from a block of green jade.

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