Wat Bowonniwet Vihara holds a special place in Thai royal history as the temple where several Thai monarchs were ordained as monks, including Rama IV (who was himself a monk for 27 years before becoming king), Rama VI, and Rama IX. The temple is of the Dhammayut reform sect of Buddhism and maintains a high standard of monastic discipline.
The main ordination hall contains murals commissioned by Rama IV — unusually, they depict Western subjects including European landscapes and the American West, painted in the 1840s, decades before such subjects appeared in Thai painting generally. The temple is less visited than the Rattanakosin temples but offers a more intimate and genuinely monastic atmosphere.