Wat Saket and the Golden Mountain, Bangkok

Wat Saket and the Golden Mountain, Bangkok

Wat Saket was built outside of the former city walls in the late 18th-century in the reign of King Rama I.

Wat Saket was built outside of the former city walls in the late 18th-century in the reign of King Rama I. It served as the capital's crematorium, and throughout the next century became the dumping ground of over 60,000 plague victims who were too poor to afford a funeral. Wat Saket's major feature is the Golden Mount, an artificial hill dating from the early 19th-century. A huge chedi was built on top of the hill in the reign of King Rama III, but it collapsed during the construction process as the soil was too soft to support it. King Rama V bricked in the debris and started construction on a more modest chedi that still exists today. He placed some relics inside the chedi, by some believed to be the Buddha's teeth. A spiral staircase of 318 steps leads from the ground to a terrace and shrine-room - the Buddha's relics are housed in a gold-leaf-covered shrine at the centre of this area. In the first week of November, the mount is illuminated with coloured lanterns and the compound turns into a large funfair.