Wat Phra Kaew & Grand Palace

Lonely Planet review

The Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew) gleams and glitters with so much colour and glory that its earthly foundations seem barely able to resist the celestial pull. Architecturally fantastic, the temple complex is also the spiritual core of Thai Buddhism and the monarchy, symbolically united in what is the country's most holy image, the Emerald Buddha. Attached to the temple complex is the former royal residence, once a sealed city of intricate ritual and social stratification.

If you're suitably dressed, enter Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace complex through the third gate from the river pier. Tickets are purchased inside the complex; anyone telling you it's closed is likely to be a gem tout and/or con artist.

Past the ticket counters you'll meet the yaksha, brawny guardian giants from the Ramakian (the Thai version of the Indian Ramayana epic). Beyond the gate is a courtyard where the central bòt (chapel) houses the Emerald Buddha. The spectacular ornamentation inside and out does an excellent job of distracting first-time visitors from paying their respects to the image. Here's why: the Emerald Buddha is only 66cm tall and sits so high above worshippers in the main temple building that the gilded shrine is more striking than the small figure it cradles. There are always postcards if you miss it.

Outside the main bòt is a stone statue of the Chinese goddess of mercy, Kuan Im, and nearby are two cow figures, representing the year of Rama I's birth.

In the 2km-long cloister that defines the perimeter of the complex are 178 murals depicting the Ramakian in its entirety, beginning at the north gate and moving clockwise around the compound. If the temple grounds seem overrun by tourists, the mural area is usually mercifully quiet and shady.

Adjoining Wat Phra Kaew is the Grand Palace (Phra Borom Maharatchawang), a former royal residence which today is used by the king only for certain ceremonial occasions; the current monarch lives in Chitralada Palace, which is closed to the public. Visitors are allowed to survey the Grand Palace grounds and exteriors of the four remaining palace buildings, which are interesting for their royal bombast.

At the eastern end, Borombhiman Hall is a French-inspired structure that served as a residence for Rama VI (King Vajiravudh; r 1910-25). In April 1981 General San Chitpatima used it as headquarters for an attempted coup. Amarindra Hall, to the west, was originally a hall of justice but is used today for coronation ceremonies.

The largest of the palace buildings is the triple-winged Chakri Mahaprasat (Grand Palace Hall). Completed in 1882 following a plan by British architects, the exterior shows a peculiar blend of Italian Renaissance and traditional Thai architecture, a style often referred to as faràng sài chá-daa (Westerner wearing a Thai classical dancer's headdress), because each wing is topped by a mondòp (a layered, heavily ornamented spire). It is believed the original plan called for the palace to be topped with a dome, but Rama V was persuaded to go for a Thai-style roof instead. The tallest of the mondòp, in the centre, contains the ashes of Chakri kings; the flanking mondòp enshrine the ashes of Chakri princes who failed to inherit the throne.

The last building to the west is the Ratanakosin-style Dusit Hall, which initially served as a venue for royal audiences and later as a royal funerary hall.

Until Rama VI decided one wife was enough for any man, even a king, Thai kings housed their huge harems in the inner palace area (not open to the public), which was guarded by combat-trained female sentries. The intrigue and rituals that occurred within the walls of this cloistered community live on in the fictionalised epic Four Reigns, by Kukrit Pramoj, which follows a young girl named Ploi growing up within the Royal City.

The admission fee to Wat Phra Kaew also includes entry to Dusit Park.