Wat Traimit

The Phra Phuttha Maha Suwan Patimakon is about three metres tall and weighs roughly five and a half tonnes, and it is solid gold - not gilded, but cast in gold of high purity, which makes it the largest solid gold statue in the world. Its history is the story. It was made in the Sukhothai period, and at some point, probably before the Burmese invasions of the eighteenth century, it was covered in plaster and coloured glass to disguise it. It stayed disguised for perhaps two hundred years, treated as an ordinary stucco image, until 1955 when it was being moved to a new building at Wat Traimit, the ropes gave way, it fell, the plaster cracked and gold showed through. The temple now houses it in a purpose-built hall with the broken plaster displayed alongside, plus a museum on Bangkok's Chinatown and Chinese-Thai history in the same building.

What you actually see

• The gold Buddha - about five and a half tonnes of solid gold, three metres tall.
• The plaster fragments - the disguise that cracked off in 1955.
• The Chinatown museum - Chinese-Thai history in the same building.
• The Sukhothai origin - the period the image was cast in.

When to go

November to February. Mornings are quietest; tour groups arrive through the middle of the day. An hour for the Buddha, longer with the museums.

Honest expectations

The hall is modern and the setting plain - the object carries it. Separate charges for the Buddha and the museums. Temple dress code applies. Very busy with tour groups at midday.

Nearby

Yaowarat and Chinatown are immediately north; Hua Lamphong station is east.