The Golden Buddha | Phra Phuttha Maha Suwan Patimakon | Wat Traimit, Bangkok, Thailand.

Golden Buddha (statue)

• The Golden Buddha, officially titled Phra Phuttha Maha Suwan Patimakon, is the world's largest solid gold statue. It is located in the temple of Wat Traimit, Bangkok, Thailand.

• The origins of this statue remain uncertain. It is made in the Sukhothai Dynasty style, and is thought to have been made during the Sukhothai period in the 13th-14th centuries, though it could have been made after that time.
• The head of the statue is egg-shaped, which indicates its origin in the Sukothai period. Sukothai art had Indian influences. Metal figures of the Buddha made in India used to be taken to various countries for installation. So the Golden Buddha statue may have been cast in parts in India.
• The shape of the statue's head dates it to the Sukothai period

• Later, the statue was probably moved from Sukhothai to Ayutthaya, after the latter kingdom came to predominate. This move may have happened in 1403.
• Some scholars believe the statue is mentioned in the somewhat controversial Ram Khamhaeng stele. In lines 23-27 of the first stone slab of the stele, "a gold Buddha image" is mentioned as being located "in the middle of Sukhothai City". 
• So this is interpreted as being the reference to the Wat Traimit Golden Buddha.

New building at Wat Trimitr