Wat Lan Khuat

Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew, universally called Wat Lan Khuat, the temple of a million bottles, began in 1984 when the monks started collecting discarded bottles from around the temple and the local area to clean the place up, then realised the bottles could be used as a building material. Villagers began bringing more, and over the following decades the monastery built almost everything on the site from them - the main hall, a chedi, the crematorium, monks' quarters, water tanks, toilets and boundary walls - set in concrete with the bases outward, mostly green Heineken and brown Chang bottles, with bottle caps used to make mosaic murals of the Buddha. The count is said to have passed a million and a half. It is a long-running recycling project rather than an art installation, and the monks are open about the practical reasoning: bottles are free, durable, easy to clean and let light through.

History

The monks began collecting bottles in 1984 and the main temple took two years to build; by 2009 the site had 20 buildings and more than 1.5 million green Heineken and brown Chang bottles, with the caps used for mosaics. In 2015 it was named one of ten leading examples of sustainable architecture (Wikipedia, Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew).

The main sights

• The bottle walls - green and brown glass set in concrete across the buildings.
• The bottle-cap murals - Buddha images assembled from caps.
• The full site - hall, chedi, crematorium, quarters and walls all built this way.
• The origin - a 1984 litter clean-up that became a construction method.

When to go

November to February. Bright daylight shows the glass at its best. An hour covers it. Sisaket is well off the main routes and a car is needed.

Practical notes

Remote - a long drive from anywhere with little else nearby. Free with donation boxes. No English interpretation. It is a working monastery, so dress code and quiet apply.

Nearby

Khao Phra Wihan National Park and the Cambodian border are south; Sisaket town is north.

Key facts