Wat Phra Kaew, Chiang Rai

Location and Status
Wat Phra Kaew (Thai: วัดพระแก้ว) is a third-common-class royal temple situated in the area of 10,640 square metres on Trairat road, Wiang sub-district, Muang Chiang Rai in Chiang Rai City. His Majesty the King graciously upgraded the temple to the royal temple on May 31, 1978. The temple gains historical importance as the place where the Emerald Buddha was found. It is also one of the main centres of Buddhist education and the Sangha’s administration in northern Thailand.

Wat Phra Kaew is famous throughout Thailand as the original home of the translucent green Buddha which graces the Emerald Buddha Temple in Bangkok’s Grand Palace. It was discovered in 1434 when a bolt of lighting hit an old Chedi. In the occasion of HRH Princess Mother at her 90 years in 1990, Phra Yok Chiangrai, made of jade brought from Canada, a replica of that image was created to presides over at Hor Phra Yok, which was opened by HRH Princess Kalayaniwattana...