Wat Pho - Reclining Buddha - Bangkok visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Wat Pho - Reclining Buddha' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from Central Thailand.

Wat Pho (Thai: วัดโพธิ์), is well known for the massive Reclining Buddha image in one of the temples there. It is known in Thai as Wat Phra Chetuphon (Thai: วัดพระเชตุพน) because of the Buddha image. The full official name for Wat Pho is Wat Pho is Wat Phra Chetuphon Vimolmangklararm Rajwaramahaviharn (Thai วัดพระเชตุพนวิมลมังคลาราม ราชวรมหาวิหาร), which is a bit of a mouthful.

The Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho is the largest Buddha statue in Thailand. It is 45m long, about 15m high. It is made of plaster covered brick and then gilded in gold leaf with a 5m smile. The chapel that contains the Reclining Buddha was built in 1832 by Rama III. It is only just larger than the Reclining Buddha itself. He then decorated the walls and pillars of the temple with various images depicting the history of Thailand and various other subject, designed to be a form of teaching the people.

The Reclining Buddha depicts Buddha entering Nirvana. The soles of the feet of the statue are inlaid with mother-of-pearl motifs showing the 108 lakshanas, or auspicious signs, which distinguish the true Buddha. Whilst the font of the image is shaped, the back is flat. 108 metal bowls line the hall along the back of the Buddha and visitors and worshipers try to gain merit, or luck, and a long life by dropping a coin into each one. This leads to a continuous clinking sound from dawn to dusk.

Most tourists will simply enter Wat Pho by the entrance on Thanon Thai Wang, look at the Reclining Buddha and then leave without exploring the rest of the compound. The flow of traffic is less than that at Wat Phra Kaeo in the Grand Palace, but only slightly. Waiting for clear space in which to take the images shown here and from the head and feet of the Reclining Buddha took well over an hour.

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