The Emerald Buddha at the Grand Palace, Bangkok Thailand

The Emerald Buddha
at the Grand Palace
Bangkok, Thailand
Malisa Chotisin and Chastine Ranada
EACS 130 – Tourism in Asia
Professor Pai
May 21, 2009
Why We Chose This Site
• Within Grand Palace complex, different sites to see
• Wanted to focus on Temple of Emerald Buddha
• Regarded as the most important Buddhist Temple in Thailand
Location
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Brief History
• 218,400 sq meters
• Grand Palace built in 1782
• Home to the Thai King, the Royal court, and the
administrative seat of government
The Temple of the Emerald Buddha
March 29, 1950: Thai making offerings inside the Temple of the
Emerald Buddha
• Within the grounds of the Grand Palace
• Construction started in 1785 when King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke
(Rama I) moved the capital from Thonburi to Bangkok
• Enshrines Phra Kaew Morakot (the Emerald Buddha)
Phra Kaew Morakot
The Emerald Buddha
• Carved from a single block of Jade
• Style of Lanna school of the north
• Dating from 15th century AD
The Emerald Buddha (con’t)
• No one allowed near the Buddha except the King
• Seasonal cloak
• Very important ritual  good fortune
The Grand Palace and Tourism
• Operated by: The
Bangkok Tourism
Division
• Agenda: Promote
Conservation of
Environment and
Local Wisdom
• Visitors per day:
~20,000
Issues: Miniaturization, Cultural Tourism,
Museumification, Nostalgia, Commodities
Monks Praying
Model of Angkor Wat
“If any visitor in Bangkok misses seeing this magnificent temple, it is said that he
almost misses seeing Thailand.”
Impressions of the Site
References
• “Disneyfication.” In the Orient Strikes Back, Oxford. Pp. 73-93 Berg
2000.
• Hendry “Foreign Country Theme Parks” A New Theme or an Old
Japanese Pattern, in Institute of Social Science Japan Journal, Vol.3
(2000), No. 2: 207-220.
• James Hevia: World Heritage, National Culture and the restoration of
Chengde, in Positions 9 (2001), No. 1:219 – 243.
• Louie, When you are Related to the “Other”: (Re) locating the Chinese
Homeland in Asian American Politics through Cultural Tourism, in
Positions 11 (2003), no. 3: 735-63.
• Lutz and Collins, Reading National Geographic (1993), U. of Chicago
Press. Pp. 15 – 33, pp. 47 – 85.
• Soonsawad, Thong-in. Panorama of Thailand. Bangkok: Sammitar
Publishing Company, 1996.