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Wat Suthat Thepwararam (; ) is a Buddhist temple in Bangkok, Thailand. It is classified as a first-class royal temple, one of ten such temples in Bangkok (and twenty-three in Thailand). It is a temple located within the Inner Rattanakosin area, distinguished by the Giant Swing that stands directly in front of it.
Construction was begun by King Rama I in 1807. The temple was originally called "Wat Maha Sutthawat" (วัดมหาสุทธาวาส) and was built in a grove of Combretum trees. Further construction and decoration were carried out under King Rama II, who personally helped carve the wooden doors, but the complex was not completed until the reign of King Rama III in 1847 or 1848.
The temple enshrines the Buddha image Phra Si Sakyamuni (พระศรีศากยมุนี; ), which was transferred from Sukhothai Province. Around the lower terrace of the main base are twenty-eight Chinese symbolizing the twenty-eight Buddhas of Theravada tradition. Wat Suthat also houses Phra Buddha Trilokachet (พระพุทธไตรโลกเชษฐ์; ) in the ubosot (ordination hall), and Phra Buddha Setthamuni (พระพุทธเศรษฐมุนี; ) in the sala kan parian, the preaching and assembly hall.
In 2005, the temple was submitted to UNESCO for consideration as a future World Heritage Site.
During the reign of King Phutthaloetla Naphalai (Rama II), work on the temple was resumed, and the king himself carved the wooden doors of the vihāra. He too passed away before the project was completed. The construction of the temple was finally brought to completion in 1847, in the reign of King Nangklao (Rama III), who conferred on it the official name "Wat Suthat Thepwararam", although contemporary chronicles record the form "Wat Suthat Theptharam". Under King Mongkut (Rama IV), the principal Buddha images in the vihāra, ubosot (ordination hall), and preaching hall were given harmonized names: Phra Si Sakyamuni, Phra Buddha Trilokachet, and Phra Phuttha Sretthamuni respectively.
Within Wat Suthat Thepwararam stands the royal memorial to King Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII). His royal ashes were enshrined in 1950 in the decorative cloth panel (pha thip) at the front of the throne base of Phra Si Sakyamuni, and an annual royal merit-making ceremony commemorating the anniversary of his death is held there on 9 June.
The ubosot of Wat Suthat is regarded as the longest ordination hall in Thailand. Its principal image, Phra Buddha Trilokachet, is a Buddha in the Maravijaya (subduing Mara) posture. Both the ubosot and this image date to the reign of King Rama III. The inner walls are covered with mural paintings executed by court artists of that period. The door and window frames are topped with spired pediments in the form of miniature chedis, giving them a distinctive and highly refined appearance.
Around the ubosot stand eight boundary-stone shrines ( Bai sema), set upon the surrounding cloister wall. Each contains a pair of grey marble boundary stones carved with a three-headed elephant, each trunk holding a closed lotus bud, with three open lotus blossoms above. On the north and south sides of the cloister wall there are four raised pavilions on each side, used as royal platforms for scattering alms to the people during state ceremonies; these are known as "koi proi than", or alms-scattering pavilions.
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