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Golden stupa spires and tiered roofs at Emerald Buddha Temple in Bangkok
About this photograph
- Creator
- Margery H. Freeman
- Date created
- Unknown
- Location
- Bangkok, Thailand
- License
- This photograph copyright ©2006. Terms of use
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Golden stupa spires and tiered roofs top Bangkok’s Emerald Buddha Temple compound, or wat, the public Buddhist worship places where monks live in Thailand and other Theravada Buddhist areas of Southeast Asia.
The smooth bell-shaped tower, or “stupa,” seen in front here is constructed in a style typical for classical Siamese (now Thai) and Burmese Theravada Buddhist architecture. This image was photographed in August 1984.
Buddhist stupas are bell-shaped spiritual momuments housing personal relics of Buddha or his followers. The term is derived from a Sanskrit word meaning “to accumulate or gather together.” Relics or sacred items are accumulated and stored there, and religious followers gather at stupas for rituals.
The stupa memorial’s shape with the bell form topped by a square section and an umbrella or tall spire, represents the Buddha and his path to enlightenment. In East Asia, the stupa’s architectural form and meanings were transformed into temple buildings called pagodas.
The Emerald Buddha Temple contains hundreds of Buddha images, but it is named after a 30-inch tall green jade (or jasper) statue that was the precious object of royal seizure and wars in precolonial Southeast Asia.
The green Buddha statue was discovered in what is now northern Thailand in the 1400s, then captured and taken to Vientiane, the current capital of Laos, in 1551. Siamese legend says that whoever possesses this statue will rule. It now is considered a precious relic of the ruling Chakri dynasty of Thailand. The king himself changes the statue’s gold and diamond robes three times a year.
Located beside the Grand Palace, former home of the Siamese kings, this Theravada Buddhist temple ground of national significance dates to the 1782 founding of Bangkok as the royal capital of Siam’s Chakri dynasty.
Unlike most Thai monasteries or wats, there currently are no resident monks at the Emerald Buddha Temple. The exterior grounds which showcase the murals and many large statues are visited by pilgrims and tourists, while the building interiors are reserved for the exclusive use of the Thai royal family.
