Wat Arun

Wat Arun   the Temple of the Dawn , a short water taxi ride across the Chao Phya river from the Grand Palace.

Originally a mere 15 meters high, Rama 11 decided to raise the height of the central tower to its present height of 79 meters, making it one of the tallest religious structures in Thailand.

The complete surface of the tower is covered  with mosaics of multicoloured Chinese porcelain.  When the builders ran out of porcelain, Rama 111, who had inherited the massive project from his predecessor, called upon his subjects to contribute any broken crockery they could find to complete the decoration.

Detail of the porcelain embedded in concrete