Wat Benchamabophit Dusitvanaram is a Buddhist temple in the Dusit District of Bangkok. Also known as the marble temple, it is one of Bangkok’s best-known temples and a major tourist attraction. It typifies Bangkok’s ornate style of high gables, stepped-out roofs and elaborate finials.
Construction of the temple began in 1899 at the request of King Chulalongkorn after building his palace nearby. The temple’s name literally means ‘the Temple of the fifth King located near Dusit Palace’. It was designed by Prince Naris, a half-brother of the king, and is built of Italian marble. It has display of Carrara marble pillars, a marble courtyard and two large singhas (lions) guarding the entrance to the bot. The interiors are decorated with crossbeams of lacquer and gold, and in shallow niches in the walls of paintings of important stupas all over the country. The cloister around the assembly hall houses 52 images of Buddha.
