This dazzling complex is one of the world’s great architectural ensembles

The seven wonders of the Grand Palace, Bangkok, Thailand

This dazzling complex at the centre of ceremony for Thai kings since 1782 forms one of the world’s greatest and most colourful architectural ensembles.

1 Say hello to the palace guards

The palace guards.Credit: iStock

The entrances to various parts of the palace are guarded by pairs of towering yakshas, the shape-shifting guardians against evil spirits that originated in Hindu mythology. Each is depicted dressed in elaborate Thai costume, holding an enormous club and baring their fangs. Some have green faces, others blue or red, and their ear jewellery, rings and jacket buttons vary. The actual palace guards are less eye-catching, in dark blue pants, white jackets and pith helmets.

2 Be blinded by the beauty of Phra Mondop

Mosaic wall at Phra Mondop.Credit: iStock

This little library pavilion, which houses Buddhist texts, isn’t open to the public but is the Grand Palace’s most exquisite building: more a work of jewellery than architecture. Exterior pillars support an elegant, multilayered roof that rises to a needlepoint, and the shimmering walls are inlaid with green mirrored tiles and repeated patterns of embossed gold Buddhas. Flanking the doorway are two extraordinarily detailed guardian warriors, glittering in gold and semi-precious stones.

3 Get the camera clicking in the temple compound

The temple complex Wat Phra Kaew.Credit: iStock

The palace’s temple complex, Wat Phra Kaew, has a gaudy exuberance of pavilions encrusted with mirrored tiles, porcelain and gold that blinds you in the tropical sun’s glare. Doors and window frames are inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and statues of mythological beings appear to support the walls. Look out for garudas (half human, half bird) and aponsis (half human, half lion). The latter look like break-dancers; striking up an imitation pose beside them is a photo must.

4 Pay your respects to the Emerald Buddha

The Emerald Buddha.Credit: iStock

Wat Phra Kaew houses Thailand’s most sacred relic, a Buddha seated in a yoga posture, made from a solid piece of green jade and draped in clothes covered in gold and diamonds. (The Thai king ceremoniously changes the statue’s costume three times a year.) Although you could easily be distracted by the cluttered and ornate temple interior, whose art relates the life of Buddha, the statue has a compelling serenity, high atop a huge gilded altar.

5 Pick out the details in the Ramakien murals

Murals tell a story.Credit: iStock

Amid the palace’s eye-catching bling, the 178 painted wall panels in sombre colours that cover the temple compound’s red-ceilinged arcades are easily missed. First painted in 1783, they relate the Ramakien, or Thai version of the Indian good-versus-evil epic, the Ramayana. In panel corners you’ll often find amusing scenes of daily life, such as a demon warrior snacking at a street stall, or a boy poking his tongue out at a palace guard.

6 Enjoy the culture clash of Chakri Palace

Chakri Maha Prasat.

Beyond the ultra-crowded, most glittering section of the Grand Palace is the (relative) tranquillity of Chakri Maha Prasat, set in open green space dotted with Dr Seuss-like clipped trees and French-style lamp posts. Completed in 1882 as an audience and throne hall, this striking building is all European below – it could almost be an ornate Victorian railway station – and all Thai above, with green-and-red roofs and golden spires. Its arcades display antique weapons.

7 Do something different in a fine museum

Housed in a low white building with a circular porch that wouldn’t look out-of-place on the Italian Riviera is Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles, which is blissfully crowd-free but also blissfully air-conditioned. It has a very well-presented collection of Thai textiles, costumes and clothing, but particularly absorbing for anyone interested in fashion is the range of Queen Sirikit’s traditional and Western dresses by leading Thai and international designers.

See tourismthailand.org