Golden Mount & Wat Saket

Before glass and steel towers began growing out of the flat monotony of Bangkok’s riverine plain, the massive Golden Mount (Phu Khao Thong) was the only structure to make any significant impression on the horizon. At the eastern entrance to Banglamphu, the mount was commissioned by Rama III. He ordered that the earth dug out to create Bangkok’s expanding klorng network be piled up to build an enormous, 100m-high, 500m-wide chedi (stupa). As the hill grew, however, the weight became too much for the soft soil beneath and the project was abandoned until Rama IV built a small gilded chedi on its crest and added trees to stave off erosion. Rama V later added to the structure and interred a Buddha relic from India (given to him by the British government) in the chedi. The concrete walls were added during WWII.