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Introduction
"Ah! well,
travellers who spoke of Siam as a dream of the Arabian Nights only told
the truth; the colours of the East are so brilliant, the outlines so eccentric,
the architecture so dazzling and covered with ornament and these twenty
palaces joined together hold so much that is wonderful, that it is worth
taking the voyage for this one view......"
The Marquis
of Beauvoir, 1867
Adjacent to the Grand Palace
and built in 1782 by King Rama I, Wat Phra Kaeo (Temple of the Emerald
Buddha) or Wat Phra Si Rattana Sadsadaram, is home to the most sacred Buddha
image in Thailand, Phra Kaeo Morakot (the Emerald Buddha). During its two
hundred year history, the temple had undergone several restorations, and
additions. Thus, the temple incorporates no less than two centuries
of Rattanakosin craftmanship which is an expression of the essential entity
of the Thai people.
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