Wat Phra Kaew is probably the best known of all the temples in Thailand. In Bangkok, on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River lies the Grand Palace, which is the residence of the King of Thailand, alongside the temple of the ‘Emerald Buddha’, Wat Phra Kaew. It’s
 
dominant position in the area means that the beauty and splendor of the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew can be seen for miles around.

                  The tradition of constructing a Buddhist temple in the precincts of the Royal Palace has existed in Thailand since the Sukhothai period (l240 - 1438 A.D.). When King Rama I (1782-1809) of Bangkok established the city of Bangkok, or Ratanakosin, as his capital in 1782 A.D., he had the Temple of the Emerald Buddha constructed in the eastern section of the Royal Palace in order to install the Emerald Buddha, which he had obtained from the city of Vientiane in Laos. The Emerald Buddha is regarded by Thais as the most sacred of all Buddha images and is believed to gaurantee the independence and prosperity of the nation. The construction, of the temple, took two years to finish and the famous image was transferred from Thonburi to the present site in 1784.

                  The Emerald Buddha is in reality carved From a large piece of green jade. According to a reliable chronicle, in 1434 A.D. lightning struck a Chedi (pagoda) in Chiang Rai in Northern Thailand and a Buddha statue covered with stucco was found inside. The image was brought into the abbot's residence and one day he noticed that the stucco on the nose had flaked off and the image inside was green in color. He removed all the stucco and found the Emerald Buddha. (The word emerald here only means "green colored" in Thai.)

                  The history of the Emerald Buddha is long and colourful. After the statue was discovered by the abbot people flocked to worship it. Over the next one hundred years or so the statue moved from place to place. From Chiang Rai the statue was then taken to Lampang, Chiang Mai and on to Luang Prabang in Loas. One interesting tale is of when the King Samfangkaen of Chiang Mai wanted the statue moved from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai. He sent for an elephant to take the statue to Chiang Mai, but each time the elephant arrived at the junction with the
 
road to the city of Lampang, it ran to that town. The king sent an elephant out three times but each time the same incident occurred, so he believed that the spirits gaurding the Emerald Buddha wanted it to stay in Lampang. Thus the Emerald Buddha was allowed to remain in Lampang for 32 years.

                  In the mid 16th Century the Emerald Buddha was seized by Loas and taken to the city of Vientiane.During the campaigns of King Taksin in the late 18th Century his generals brought most of present day Loas under their command. General Chakri, later to become Rama I, triumphantly returned the Emerald Buddha to the then Thai capital at Thonburi on the west bank of Bangkok. With the establisment of Bangkok as the capital, the Emerald Buddha became the palladium of Thailand and has been ever since. The image was moved from Thonburi to the temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew) in Bangkok on the 22nd March 1784.

                  King Rama I had two seasonal costumes made for the Emerald Buddha, one for summer and one for the rainy season, King Rama III (I824-1851) added another  one  for winter.   The  ceremony  of changing the  costumes of the Emerald
 
 
Buddha, takes place three times a year. In the old days the king would spray lustral water only on the princes and officials who were attending the ceremony inside the ordination hall. But during the present reign, His Majesty the King also sprays lustral water upon high subjects who are waiting outside the ordination hall. It can be regarded as a new tradition inaugurated in this reign.