Wat Phra Kaew

Wat Phra Kaew

Before talking about the temple, you should know a bit about the Phra Kaew Buddha image.  The original temple, believed to be founded around the time of Chiang Rai’s city founding, was called Wat Pa Yia.  To the rear of the temple was a simple chedi.  During a thunderstorm in 1434, lightning struck the chedi damaging enough to partially expose an emerald colored figure.  Once they totally exposed the figure, it was found to be a Nuddha inage.  The previous history of the Buddha image is not known with certainty but it is believed to have been carved in India about 2,000 years ago.  After being taken to Sri Lanka and Cambodia it found it’s way to Chiang Rai.  The actual name is the Phra Kaew Buddha image, but because of its color it has adopted the name “The Emerald Buddha” although it’s actually made og green jade!

The Emerald Buddha or Phra Kaew Morakot is the most highly revered Buddha image in Thailand. 

Shortly after its discovery, the Lanna King of that time ordered the Buddha image be taken to Chiang Rai.  The Buddha image (in a shrine) was put on the back of an elephant for transport.  However, seemingly to have a mind of its own, the elephant brought the image to Lampang, east of Chiang Mai.  After repeating this three times, the King left the image in Lampang (Wat Phra Kaew Don Tao).  It was later moved to several other locations including Vientiane Laos and Chiang Mai before finally making its way to the current location – Wat Phra Kaew on the grounds of the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

Wat Phra Keaw in Chiang Rai has a viharn, ubosot and chedi.

The rather small viharn has a beautiful Lanna style structure with a facade of decorated panels with a multi-tiered roof.  Two large Naga serpents guard the entrance stairs with a large bronze and brass Buddha image inside.  The image, which was cast 7 centuries ago, is in the subduing Mara posture.

Behind the viran you can see the original chedi from 1434 which was repaired and is now a golden spiral.

Also on the temple grounds is the late 19th century ubosot with its beautiful mural paintings.  It now houses a copy of the original Buddha image.  Also called Phra Kaew Morakot, the copy was carved in China from green jade and installed in the ubosot in 1991.  It is not an exact copy of the original.  Out of respect for the original, the copy is slightly smaller.

The other place to visit, also on the temple grounds, is the modern two story Lanna museum.  Here you will find some nice displays of artifacts from the Lanna era (1296-1558).