Nothing definite is known about the origin of the celebrated Emerald Buddha.

The famed Emerald Buddha is kept within the grounds of the temple.

This rebuilding included the royal chapel, which would come to house the Emerald Buddha.

The temple gains historical importance as the place where the Emerald Buddha was found.

The king of Thailand is the only person allowed to go near the Emerald Buddha.

"That emerald Buddha of his is glistening away inside of steel walls.

An emerald Buddha statue sits inside the red-gold interior.

The main building is the central ubosoth, which houses the statue of Emerald Buddha.

The Emerald Buddha is an object of national veneration.

The Emerald Buddha was carried off by the Siamese.

The Emerald Buddha is deified over an elevated altar surrounded by large gilded decorations.

It is seen here as something of a competitor to the sacred emerald Buddha at the Grand Palace in Thailand.

The northern end of the wihan, near the entrance for the nuns, contains a copy of the Emerald Buddha.

Visit the Emerald Buddha, housed beneath the gleaming spires of the Grand Palace.

He took the Emerald Buddha with him and thereafter the image remained in Vientiane for two hundred and fifteen years until 1778.

This time her inspiration, she says, is the Emerald Buddha of Bangkok and other aspects of Thai culture.

The Emerald Buddha itself is simply the Jadeite statue, but it is adorned with garments made of gold.

Finally, the royal couple visited the Temple of the Emerald Buddha where he made a solemn vow to protect the Buddhist religion.

There is a model of the Emerald Buddha and a statue of the Hindu God Ganesh.

He had royal ambitions of shifting the capital from Bangkok to his home town Phetchabun along with the Emerald Buddha.

The adjoining temple, Wat Phra Kaew, is home to the roughly 600-year-old Emerald Buddha.

The main temple of the Emerald Buddha is very elegantly decorated and similar to the temple in ancient capital of Ayudhya.

Like many other Buddha statues in Thailand, the Emerald Buddha is dressed in a seasonal costume.

There is a tradition that Nagasena brought to Thailand the first representation of the Buddha, the Emerald Buddha.

Enjoy a guided tour of the palace grounds, including Wat Phra Kaew, which houses the Emerald Buddha.