How a stucco Buddha turned to be gold
“All that glitters is not gold”, a popular aphorism states. It is rattling about my head as I wander through Bangkok’s China Town searching for Wat Traimit. I have passed by it over and over again, but I would never have imagined that the grey building, roughly resembling Soviet architecture, around which I’ve walked for the last ten minutes, could be one of the most visited temples in the city. It looks like its appearance, almost anonymous, is a choice to evoke the story of the Buddha of about seven hundred years ago, kept inside. Or maybe it’s just a coincidence, as was the discovery a group of monks made here on the morning of May 25, 1955.
Alone among the ruins
Three centuries earlier, in 1767, the Burmese had razed Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of the kingdom of Siam. They had burned manuscripts, destroyed buildings, deported the population and plundered the city of the gold that covered its monuments and temples. Among the ruins, now invaded by the jungle, remained the statue of a stucco Buddha, too heavy to be taken away, considering its limited value.
A few years later, during the reign of King Rama I, Thailand was ready to regain its former glory. The new capital, Bangkok, previously just a village, would expand and become a modern city. It needed new roads and new temples. And the new temples needed sacred images to which people could address their prayers. Among the ruins of Ayutthaya, there were hundreds of these. And a large stucco Buddha, too heavy and not worth for the Burmese to take it away.
Initially, the Buddha was placed in Wat Chotanaram, a temple that was later closed. Then it was moved to Wat Traimit, a minor temple, so small it had no room to house the sculpture. The statue remained outdoors, exposed to the elements, until the early 1950s, when a new prayer hall was built.
Luck is in a number
Lifting a heavy object requires expertise and careful handling. Especially when it is a sacred image. For Thai culture, damaging it would bring great misfortune. On the morning of May 25, 1955, workers called to move the Buddha at Wat Traimit surely thought they had bad karma when they heard the ropes of their winch creak and then broke with a loud crack. The huge stucco figure remained suspended in midair for a few seconds before plummeting to the floor. The monk in charge of the transport turned pale. Then a strange glow distracted him.
Thai people are obsessed with numbers. And that 1955 was a lucky year echoed in all the newspapers. One of the corners of the Buddha’s base had shattered and revealed its true nature. During the siege of Ayutthaya, before the din of battle invaded the temple, the monks covered the statue with stucco to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. But that Buddha was made of gold. The largest golden Buddha in the World, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Ten feet tall, five and a half tons in weight, and an estimated value of $200 million. “All that glitters is not gold,” a popular aphorism states, but sometimes even what doesn’t glitter is gold.
Photos: Pierpaolo Ferlaino
