Wat Bowonniwet Vihara is one of the most historically significant temples in Thailand — not for its architecture, which is restrained by Bangkok standards, but for its role as the spiritual home of the Dhammayut Order and the temple where every Thai king since Rama IV has been ordained as a monk.
King Rama IV — the king portrayed in The King and I — founded the Dhammayut reform movement here before his accession to the throne, seeking to purify Thai Buddhist practice by returning to Pali scripture and stricter monastic discipline. The movement he began at Wat Bowonniwet eventually spread across Thailand and into neighbouring countries, reshaping Theravada Buddhism across the region.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), Thailand's most beloved modern monarch, was ordained here in 1956 and spent fifteen days in residence as a monk — a period the Thai public regard with particular reverence. The current King Rama X was also ordained at this temple. The ordination hall where these ceremonies took place remains in active use. The temple houses a collection of exceptional murals painted by Khrua In Khong, a monk-artist who was among the first Thai painters to incorporate Western perspective techniques into traditional Buddhist iconography. The results are startling — familiar scenes from the life of the Buddha rendered with realistic depth and European-influenced spatial composition, unlike anything else in Bangkok's temples.
"Every Thai king since Rama IV has ordained here — the temple that reformed Buddhism across Southeast Asia"
Historical Note
Khrua In Khong's murals at Wat Bowonniwet represent a pivotal moment in Thai art history. Painted in the mid-19th century, they show Western ships, foreign soldiers and European-style buildings alongside traditional Buddhist imagery — reflecting the moment Thailand first opened to Western influence under Rama IV, processed through the eyes of a monk who had never left the country.