Bangkok - Wat Traimitr (Golden Buddha)

Wat Traimitr

Wat Traimitr (Temple of the Golden Buddha) owes its fame and its attraction to an accident, prior to which it was just one of the many hundreds of very ordinary temples scattered throughout Bangkok.

During the 1950s the land around it was purchased by the East Asiatic Company, a condition of the sale being the removal of a plaster statue of Buddha. The statue proved too heavy for the crane being used to lift it; the cable parted and the figure was dropped, being left overnight where it fell. This happened to be in the rainy season, and when next morning some monks walked past, they noticed a glint of gold shining through in one place. The plaster was removed, revealing a 3.5 m (12 ft) Buddha cast from 5.5 tons of solid gold. All attempts to trace the origin of this priceless statue have so far failed. It is assumed however to date from the Sukhothai period, when marauding invaders threatened the country and its treasures, and it became common practice to conceal valuable Buddha figures such as this beneath a coating of plaster. Nor is it known how the statue came to Bangkok.

The Golden Buddha can be seen on the upper floor of a two-story building access to which is by an external staircase next to the bot.