Open Collections

Description

The Ancient Guanyin Temple (觀音古廟) (ศาลเจ้ากวนอิม San Tchaw Kuan Im) is a Buddhist temple in Bangkok, Thailand. This one room neighborhood temple was constructed during the reign of King Rama V, roughly from 1853-1910, as specified by the temple caretaker. The caretaker said that the temple was bombed during the Japanese invasion of Thailand in 1941, but was later rebuilt. The temple regularly hosts chanting groups, the majority of whom were specified to be Teochew Chinese (唐人). The caretaker stated that the temple has no state support, but does regularly pay money to a Chinese foundation. It is not known to what extent the temple has been renovated, nor how often, but the most recent set of renovations occured in 2021. Image 01 shows the temple doors from the perspective of inside the temple, featuring the Gate Deities, or Menshen (門神) who protect against evil forces that enter the temple and encourage good energy to enter the temple. Image 02 shows a close-up of the detailing above the temple doors, featuring the small inscription on the top reading from right to left 觀音佛祖 meaning "Buddha Guanyin," and the vertical inscription reading 靈應萬里 meaning "efficacious throughout ten thousand miles." Image 03 shows the a close-up of the rightmost door from the perspective of inside the temple (left door from the outside). Image 04 shows a close-up of the leftmost door from the perspective of inside the temple (right door from the outside). Image 05 shows the dragon detailing above the rightmost door. Image 06 shows the dragon detailing above the leftmost door. Metadata created and compiled by: Kira Johansen.