Another one of the major structures in the Grand Palace complex in Bangkok is the Royal Monastery of the Emerald Buddha. This is basically a temple that houses an emerald Buddha – one of the most highly venerated figures in the country. The fact is, the Emerald Buddha, isn’t even made of emerald at all, but it was carved from a single rock of jade. When it was first discovered, the statue was covered in plaster and only until the plaster was peeling that the greed jade was revealed. Thinking it was emerald, it was quickly named the Emerald Buddha and enshrined.
After a tug of war between the kingdom of Laos and Thailand, it was finally enshrined in what is now the Royal Monastery of the Emerald Buddha. Faithful can buy lotus flowers to offer to the Buddha and while visitors are permitted to enter the temple, footwear is forbidden and so is photography. Fortunately, I had my trusty telephoto lens to take a close up view of the Emerald Buddha from the outside.
Contrary to the name of the place, there are no monks which stay in this particular monastery. This place also serves as the private chapel of the king. As usual the building is clad in shiny material making it shine in the morning sun. There were a lot of visitors that day, including a troupe of students who are apparently on a field trip. Most of the students seemed uninterested while a teacher or possibly a guide was lecturing them about the temple. And I thought that most Thai would have already visited this place by then.
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