Wat Pariwaht Ratchasongkraam (วัดปริวาสราชสงคราม)

Thai. Name of a riverside Buddhist temple with an enclosing wall along the Chao Phraya in Bangkok, which features flamboyant mosaics and sculptures from various religions and cultures, international history and mythology, and even international idols from famous cartoons and pop-culture icons, as well as creatures of fantasy and imagination, all incorporated into typical Thai-style beautification. Among the sculptures are gods, angels, hermits, giants, devils, various —often compound— animals, and important characters, such as from the Ramakien and Three Kingdoms, but also sculptures of dragons, cowboys, Vikings, King Arthur, Pharaohs, samurai, Indians, Pinocchio, Batman, and so on. The ubosot, of which the inner walls are decorated with benjarong, is known as the Benjarong Stucco Sculpture Bot, and houses the more than 700 year old Sukhothai Buddha Statue. Coloured stones and gems are used to make the murals that never repeat the same pattern. The chofa on top of the ubosot's roof is made to represent a blooming lotus and is made of more than a kilogram of gold. Whilst its completion took five years, work on the wihaan, the inner court and surrounding gallery, as well as on the twin stupas flanking the main entrance to the south was still in progress in early 2023 and the total construction budget is expected to be over 250 million baht. Whilst the entrance door to the ubosot is flanked with the 12 animals from the Chinese zodiac, six on either side, the entrance door to the wihaan is decorated with the 12 signs from the horoscope, also six on either side. In the corners of the inner courtyard are carved marble statues, each depicting an important stage in the life of the Buddha, namely —starting in the southwestern corner in clockwise order with— his birth or Phrasoot; then his Enlightenment seated underneath the bodhi tree, although here depicted seated in the mortification pose, the attitude of suffering which in Thai is known as pahng thukkarakiriyah and thus combining these two episodes in his life; then the Buddha's very first public discourse on his doctrine given to his five disciples called panjawakkie; and finally his demise known as the Mahaparinippahn, Mahaparinirvana, parinippahn or parinirvana. The temple, formerly called Wat Pariwaht (วัดปริวาส), is assumed to be built around the end of the Ayutthaya Period and the early Rattanakosin Period and in the reign of King Rama II and Rama III was in a dilapidated condition. There is evidence that then Phraya Phetpichai (เพชรพิชัย) and Phraya Ratchasongkraam (ราชสงคราม) renovated the temple and renamed it Wat Pariwaht Ratchasongkraam. Because this temple is located next to the water, the original ubosot  was by the year 2008 AD falling to pieces due to the soil collapsing. The abbot therefore built a new ubosot with a wihaan and the area inside is no longer adjacent to the waterfront. WATCH VIDEO (1) and (2). 回