Wat Benchamabophit (Marble Temple)
A Buddhist temple sheathed in Italian marble where stained-glass panels wash the interior in colored light — as if a Gothic church and a Thai ordination hall quietly merged.
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King Chulalongkorn commissioned it in 1899 and his half-brother Prince Naris designed it — fusing Thai tiered roofs and gilt pediments with Khmer boundary stones and European stained glass into something that reads as wholly its own. The surrounding cloister holds 52 Buddha images; inside stands a Sukhothai-style principal image cast in 1920, modelled on the revered original in Phitsanulok.
What to look for
- Two large stone singhas (lions) flanking the entrance to the ordination hall
- Stained-glass panels above the windows casting coloured light inside — a deliberate echo of Christian churches
- The crossbeams of lacquer and gold overhead, and shallow wall niches painted with stupas from across Thailand
In Bangkok's Dusit District, directly beside Dusit Palace — the temple's full name translates as "Temple of the fifth King located near Dusit Palace."
Wat Benchamabophit (Marble Temple) is one of 38 sights worth the detour in Bangkok, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Bangkok pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Bangkok
- Grand PalaceIn 1782 a king moved his entire capital from Thonburi to Bangkok and built this walled city — Thailand's seat of power for the next 143 years.
- Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha)Every Thai king since 1783 has personally added to this temple — and the reigning king still presides over state ceremonies here today.
- Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn)Named for Aruna — the Hindu charioteer who drives the sun at dawn — this riverside spire was built to face the light it honors.
- Baiyoke Tower IIBangkok's tallest hotel stacks an observatory, a bar, and a revolving roof deck across three floors at 309 metres.
- BTS SkytrainBangkok sits in chronic gridlock — three elevated lines run above it on 70 kilometers of track connecting the city end to end.
- Rajamangala National StadiumThailand's largest stadium swells like a concrete wave — narrow at each end, rising steeply until the stands crest exactly at the halfway line.