Known in English as the Marble Temple, Wat Benchamabophit is among the most beautiful and refined temples in Bangkok. Built at the start of the twentieth century under Rama V, its ordination hall is clad in gleaming white Carrara marble, with a sweeping multi-tiered roof, yellow stained-glass windows, and a pair of singha lions guarding the entrance.
The cloister behind the hall displays more than fifty bronze Buddha images gathered from across Thailand and beyond, a kind of open-air catalogue of regional styles. The temple appears on the back of the five-baht coin, and dawn is the magic hour, when monks line up to receive alms in the cool quiet before the traffic builds.