Golden Buddha Temple

Golden Buddha Temple is also known as Wat Traimit is very famous as it houses the enormous solid gold Buddha statue which is the largest in the world. The statue weighs 5.5 tons and it's about 15 foot tall. Comprising of about 83% pure gold is something truly worth seeing. Thousands of tourists flock to this royal temple to view the magnificent Buddha image. If you are interested in discovering the hidden beauty of the most influential Buddha image in Bangkok and the whole world then a stop at the Golden Buddha Temple would be worth. The story of the origin of the Buddha image and how it ended up at Wat Traimit is also a beautiful one.

The Story Behind The Largest Golden Buddha

The golden Buddha has a beautiful story although its origin is not known exactly. It is however made in the gracious Sukhothai style which predicts that it was cast during the 13th century when the Sukhothai kingdom existed. Later after the Sukhothai era was no more, the golden statue was moved to the Ayutthaya kingdom which ruled between the years 1350 to 1767. At some point, the golden image was shielded with a thick plaster and lacquer coating. This was to hide its true identity and value from the Burmese invaders. True to their prediction, the Ayutthaya kingdom was destroyed by the Burmese raiders in 1767 but did not spot the golden image. The destruction of the Ayutthaya was so bad that everyone seemed to forget about the golden Buddha image and remained in the ruins of Ayutthaya without inviting any attention. For almost 200 years, the statue remained in its hidden identity and was almost forgotten.

The Accidentally Discovery Of The Golden Statue

In the year 1801, King Rama I declared Bangkok as the new capital city. He ordered many temples to be constructed in Bangkok and made a rule that old Buddha images were to be surrendered to Bangkok from the abandoned temples all over the country. The golden Buddha image was moved to Wat Chotaranam in Bangkok and later transferred to Wat Traimit Temple a minor temple with no big construction to accommodate the statue. It was therefore kept under a simple tin roof for a whopping 20 years still shielded with the plaster. In 1955 a building at the temple was constructed to house the statue. It was during the transfer of the statue from the simple tin roof to its new location that the ropes cut down and the statue fell to the ground hard. The plaster coating peeled off revealing the gold surface underneath. The plaster was removed revealing the true value of the image and pictures were taken that is displayed today at the Golden Buddha temple for visitors to see. In the year 2010, a three-story building was put in place to house the golden Buddha statue. It has an exhibition of the sweet history of the golden statue, a museum, a heritage center for the Chinatown and the upper floor has the prominent Buddha image.