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significance in the Buddhist cosmos, its name denoting Suthatsa Nakhon, the celestial city
of Indra, which sits at the top of Mount Meru, the centre of the universe. Its design re-
flects this status. Building of Wat Suthat was begun by Rama I in 1807, continued by Rama
II , and completed in the reign of Rama III in 1847. The compound is enormous, covering
more than ten acres, and within this is Bangkok's longest ordination hall, at 72 metres (236
ft). The principal Buddha image, Phra Sri Sakyamuni, was cast in bronze in 1361 and had
been installed at Wat Mahathat in Sukhothai, where it was left when the city was aban-
doned, exposed for four centuries to the elements when the temple fell into ruins. In 1808
the image was removed by Rama I , who had it floated down the river for installation in the
specially prepared ubosot . At 8 metres (26 ft) in height, the image was too large to pass
through the gate at the landing pier, so a section of the city wall was removed. The king
himself helped to haul the image through, and then walked barefoot in the procession that
accompanied the image to the temple. He was clearly unwell, and it was noticed that he
was so exhausted by the time he arrived that he was staggering. He helped to hoist the
image into position, and after this he whispered to his assistants that his work was done.
Within a few days he was dead.
Logo on the floor of Ong's Tea Shop, which imports teas from China and Taiwan.
Behind the throne is a gilded limestone bas relief of the eighth-century Dvaravati peri-
od, one of the oldest Buddhist artefacts in Thailand, and underneath the throne are the
ashes of Rama VIII , who died in 1946 in circumstances that still remain a mystery. A statue
of the young king stands in the courtyard. Inside the wiharn are exquisite murals painted
during the Rama III era, using Western techniques of perspective that were only then
becoming understood by Siamese artists, and restored in the 1980s after years of dam-
age from the bats that once hung inside the structure. Outside the wiharn are twenty-
eight Chinese pagodas, and the surrounding cloisters contain 156 Buddha images, each of
which has been adopted by a patron to make merit.
Inside a second wiharn is an image of the Buddha, named Sethamunee, and cast by
order of Rama III from the tin and lead of opium canisters seized from drug lords, the king
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