Wat Phra Chetuphon (Wat Pho)

Wat Pho, officially Wat Phra Chetuphon, is a royal Buddhist temple on Sanam Chai Road in the Phra Nakhon district of Bangkok, Thailand, just south of the Grand Palace. It is famous for its 46-metre gilded Reclining Buddha and as the home of traditional Thai massage. Foreign visitors pay 300 baht, and it suits anyone seeing Bangkok's old city.

Rama I's rebuilding of an older temple

Its full name is Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram Rajwaramahawihan. A temple stood here before Bangkok became the capital, and it counts among the oldest in the city. King Rama I, founder of the Chakri dynasty, began rebuilding it in 1788 and made it his principal temple. King Rama III later enlarged it, and most of the buildings seen today date from his reign.

Rama III also made the temple a place of public learning, with inscriptions and illustrations on medicine, history, literature and other subjects set into its walls. UNESCO added these to its Memory of the World register in 2008.

A 46 m gilded Buddha with pearl-inlaid soles

Rama III built the Reclining Buddha and its hall in 1832. The gilded figure is about 46 metres long and 15 metres high and shows the Buddha entering final nirvana. Each sole of its feet, about 3 metres high and 4.5 metres long, is inlaid with mother-of-pearl in 108 panels showing auspicious symbols. Along the wall stand 108 bronze bowls, one for each symbol, and visitors drop coins into them for good fortune; the money helps maintain the temple.

More than 1,000 Buddha images in the north enclosure

The public part of the temple is the northern walled enclosure, covering about 80,000 square metres. It holds more than 1,000 Buddha images, many gathered from older temples across Thailand. The cloister around the ordination hall alone has about 400. The ordination hall, the Phra Ubosot, dedicated in 1791, is the most sacred building, with teak doors inlaid with mother-of-pearl and about 150 stone panels from the Ramakien around its base.

Four great chedis, each about 42 metres high and covered in coloured ceramic tiles, honour the first four Chakri kings, and 91 smaller chedis stand around the grounds. Large Chinese stone figures guard the gates, some of them depicting Europeans; they first came to Bangkok as ballast on ships trading with China.

The massage school and paid treatments

Wat Pho is regarded as the birthplace of traditional Thai massage. The Wat Pho Thai Traditional Medical and Massage School, founded in the 1950s, trains practitioners in massage and Thai medicine. Treatments for visitors are given for a fee in pavilions at the eastern edge of the compound. Queues build in the afternoon.