A place of worship in the area of
Wat
Traimit Witthayaram.
(Bangkoksite photos taken on
January 15, 2000) |
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This Sukhothai
Traimit Golden Buddha Image is the largest
Buddha Image in the world. The Buddha Image is in the mara
conquering attitude, the typical artistic style of the days when
Sukhothai was the capital of Thailand. It is made of pure gold.
The image is unrivalled in beauty, measuring 12 feet 5 inches
in diameter and has a height of 15 feet 9 inches from the
base to the crown, and it weighs approximately 5 tons. Now
more than 700 years old, it is a valuable treasure of Thailand
and of Buddhism.
Originally, this Golden Buddha Image was completely covered
with plaster to conceal it from the enermy then invading
Thailand and was installed as the principal Buddha Image in
the main temple building of Choti-naram Temple or Wat
Phrayakrai, Yannawa District, Bangkok in the third reign of
the Chakkri Dynasty in the Ratanakosin era.
When Chotanaram temple was deserted in about 1931, the
East Asiatic Company, with official permission, extended its
operations into the land area of the deserted temple. The
Ecclesiastical Commission then moved this golden Buddha
image to the Traimit Witthayaram Temple where it now
remains, discovering in 1955 that it was made of pure gold.
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