Located in the Rattanakosin district next to the Grand Palace on the south side, its name is Wat Phra Chetuphon, but called Wat Pho or The Temple of the Reclining Buddha by most visitors. Its official name is Wat Phra Chetuphon Vimolmangklararm Rajwaramahaviharn.

The Wat dates back to the 14th century, it was renovated extensively in 1788. This is the biggest and oldest temple with the largest number of pagodas (95) in the city; the four large were built on different

BEST OF THAILAND
	The Grand Palace & Wat Phra Kaew
	Nang Yai (Shadow Puppet Plays)
	Wat Arun
	Wat Pho
	Ayutthaya
	Jim Thompson's House
	Ecotourism in Umphang
	Sukhothai
	Ao Phang-Nga National Marine Park

occasions and dedicated to the first four kings of the Chakri Dynasty.

Wat Pho is famous for its gold-plated “reclining Buddha” measuring 140-feet long and 45-feet in height, which is the second largest reclining Buddha in the country. It symbolizes the transition of the Buddha into nirvana.

Wat Pho holds the “major compilation of Buddha images in Thailand”, the inner and outer galleries of the temple are lined with 788 Buddha images of different styles, and more of the Buddhas come from the old capital cities of Ayutthaya and Sukhothai.

It was the first open university of Thailand, used to offer classes in several branches of Knowledge like archaeology, astrology, literature and medicine. King Rama III wanted this Wat “to be a center of learning for the general public”.

Wat Pho is also known as the place of birth of traditional Thai massage, currently, its Thai Traditional Massage School offers three types of massage services that is: body massage, body massage with herbs and foot massage. The temple tries to preserve and transfer knowledge about the whole range of Thai traditional medicine.

Address: 2 Sanamchai Road, Bangkok 10200 Thailand
Telephone: +66 2 222 5910 / +66 2 226 2942 / +66 2 226 1743 / +66 2 225 9595

« Back to Best of Thailand