16/08/2018
Name Wat Traimit, Temple of the Golden Buddha Date Late 18thcentury
Golden Buddha Sukhothai era Location Thanon Mittaphap Thai-China, Chinatown
Bangkok
The Wat Traimit temple in the Chinatown area of Bangkok is a Royal temple famous for the enormous gold Buddha image it houses.
The temple, which is officially named Wat Traimit Withayaram Worawihan and also known as “The Temple of the Golden Buddha” enshrines the massive solid gold Buddha image named Phra Phuttha Maha Suwan Patimakon displaying the subduing Mara mudra.
Largest solid gold Buddha image in the world
For centuries the true identity and value of the image were not known, until by accident in the 1950’s it was discovered that the image was made of solid gold. The image is more than three meters high, weighs some five and a half tons and is most likely some 700 to 800 years old. It is the largest solid gold Buddha image in the world.
History of the gold Buddha
The origin of the huge Buddha image is not exactly known. Because of its style it is assumed that it was cast during the Sukhothai era, the Kingdom that existed from 1238 until 1438 with the city of Sukhothai in Northern Thailand as its center.
