Wat Borom Niwat is a temple built in the 1830s as one of the flagship temples for the monk Vajirayan’s (later King Rama IVth) new Thammayut order of monks. It was built next to Sen Saep canal and intended as a ‘forest temple,’ a little far from the palaces and temples of the main city. Now, however, it is very much an urban temple which sits below skyscrapers and busy streets.

It is famous in particular for the murals of its ubosot, painted by Khrua In Khong, a monk-artist about whom we know very little except that he was the first Thai artist to use aerial and three-dimensional perspective in mural painting. In place of traditional Thai mural paintings which show, for example, the past lives of the Buddha are scenes of European culture such as railway stations and domed and pillared government buildings.

These paintings reflect the young prince-monk Vajirayan’s fascination with European culture and learning. He wished for his new thammayut order of monks to be both strict adherents to what he believed was the original Pali scripture of the Buddha, but also followers of European learning. For example, in the murals in place of Mount Meru or other landmarks of the traditional Thai-Buddhist picture of the universe, are pictures of Saturn and Mars as viewed through a telescope.

Below you can view a brief introductory video on the temple and its murals.

Below you can explore a 3D model of the interior of the ubosot of Wat Borom Niwat.

Click on the link below to open in a new window a 360 tour of the temple with explanations of various murals.

After exploring the tour above, you can test how much you’ve learned by playing the quiz below.