Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan
Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan (วัดอรุณราชวรารามราชวรมหาวิหาร) is a royal temple on the west bank of the Chao Phraya at 34 Arun Amarin Road, Wat Arun Subdistrict, Bangkok Yai District.
The temple history page says it dates from the Ayutthaya period, was first called Wat Makok after Bang Makok and later Wat Makok Nok, and was renamed Wat Chaeng after King Taksin arrived there by boat at dawn in B.E. 2310 while moving the capital to Thonburi. It says that during the Thonburi period the temple stood inside the palace, monks did not spend the rains retreat there, and the Emerald Buddha and the Phra Bang were enshrined in a mondop; in B.E. 2327 the Emerald Buddha was moved to Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram in the Grand Palace and the Phra Bang was returned to Vientiane. Under Rama I the capital moved to the east bank, the Thonburi palace walls came down, monks returned, and restoration was given to the future Rama II but only the monks’ quarters were finished before Rama I died in B.E. 2352. Rama II finished the restoration, cast the principal Buddha of the ubosot, held the celebration in B.E. 2363, and named the temple Wat Arun Ratchatharam. Rama IV restored it again and gave the present name Wat Arun Ratchawararam.
The contact page lists opening times by building and does not name days of the week: central office 08:30–18:00; ubosot 08:30–17:00, for the principal image พระพุทธธรรมมิศรราชโลกธาตุดิลก, which the page says was made in the reign of Rama II; the prang 08:00–18:00, admission 50 baht for foreigners and free for Thais; the main viharn 07:30–19:00, for the principal image พระพุทธชัมภูนุทมหาบุรุษลักษณาอสีตยานุบพิตร and for Phra Arun (Phra Chaeng), a Lan Xang Buddha image installed in B.E. 2401; the Somdet Phra Phutthachan library 09:00–11:00 and 13:00–17:00.
The map page says the cross-river ferry from Tha Tien costs 2 baht, buses 19, 57, and 83 pass the temple, and drivers coming from Pin Klao cross the Arun Amarin Bridge and pass Siriraj Hospital, the Naval Dockyard, Wat Khruea Wan, and the Naval Military Police Department, with the temple on the left. A Thailand 2026 government visitor page additionally describes the prang as over 80 meters tall and decorated with Chinese porcelain and Benjarong shards, and names the ubosot image as Phra Buddha Dhammisornrajalokathat Dilok.
Photo: Templo Wat Arun, Bangkok, Tailandia, 2013-08-22, DD 37.jpg by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0 (2013).