WAT SRISUPHAN: CHIANG MAI’S SILVER TEMPLE

Wat Chedi Luang

Wat Chedi Luang lit. temple of the big stupa or temple of the royal stupa) is a Buddhist temple in the historic centre of Chiang Mai, Thailand. The current temple grounds were originally made up of three temples — Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Ho Tham and Wat Sukmin.

History
The construction of the temple started in the 14th century, when King Saen Muang Ma planned to bury the ashes of his father in the place. After 10 years of building time it was left unfinished, later to be continued after the death of the king by his widow. Probably due to stability problems it took until the mid-15th century to be finished during the reign of king Tilokaraj. It was then 82 m high and had a base diameter of 54 m, at that time the largest building of all Lanna. In 1468, the Emerald Buddha was installed in the eastern niche. In 1545, the upper 30 m of the structure collapsed after an earthquake, and shortly thereafter, in 1551, the Emerald Buddha was moved to Luang Prabang.

In the early 1990s the chedi was reconstructed, financed by UNESCO and the Japanese government. However the result is somewhat controversial, as some claim the new elements are in Central Thai style, not Lanna style. For the 600th anniversary of the chedi in 1995, a copy of the Emerald Buddha made from black jade was placed in the reconstructed eastern niche. The icon is named official Phra Phut Chaloem Sirirat, but is commonly known as Phra Yok.

Three Kings Monument

Three Kings Monumnet

When it comes to this kind of thing, I’m not really your average tourist.Sure, I’ll check out some of the most popular wats, but I’m also going to reserve some of my time to check out some of the obscure ones too.And you’ll have to forgive me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think there are any that are more obscure than Wat Sri Suphan, more commonly referred to as Chiang Mai’s Silver Temple.
You’re not likely to find any other places of worship in the area that look like they’ve been covered in layers of tinfoil and have your favourite Marvel superheroes etched on the walls.
Before I start though, its likely that some readers will feel somewhat overwhelmed with all the local terms that you’ll come across below. If thats the case, never fear, there’s a helpful glossary of terms that should help explain what you’ll find at Chiang Mai’s places of worship. The Haiya (หายยา) subdistrict, located just south of Chiang Mai’s historic quarter is a residential area that is known for its traditional silver workshops, which produce and sell artisan jewelry and ornaments.
When you build a temple in a neighbourhood famed for its silver craftsmanship, it probably only makes sense that you show off what you’re best known for, right?
Well, that wasn’t always the case.
Wat Sri Suphan was originally established in 1502 during the reign of King Mueangkaeo of the Lanna Kingdom’s Mangrai Dynasty.
In the five centuries since, the wat has been rebuilt on several occasions, leaving very little evidence of the original.
Before I go into much detail about the temple, I think it’s important to note that while “Wat Sri Suphan” is generally referred to as “The Silver Temple” in English, the “silver” part is actually only a small piece of a large complex that includes a much larger viharn (worship hall), residences and some other buildings.

The silver ubosot (ordination hall) part of the complex, which has become Wat Sri Suphan’s claim to fame in recent years, is a recent addition and was actually only completed in 2004.
What I’m getting at here is that while locals refer to this place of worship by its formal name, tourists are almost always going to call it, “The Silver Temple.”
It probably doesn’t really matter what tourists call it in English, but I think in some cases (admittedly I was originally under this impression too) people come looking for the Silver Ubosot and leave completely unaware of the actual historic and (arguably) more important parts of the temple.
Wat Sri Suphan Viharn The grand viharn may not be as snazzy or attractive as the Silver Ubosot next door, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is the most significant building at Wat Sri Suphan and dates back more than two centuries, making it the oldest building on site.
The sad thing about this is that it is often overlooked by tourists who know very little about it (few articles online talk about it) or even bother to check it out while visiting, which is why I’ve elected to talk a little about it before I go into detail about the Silver Temple.
The large Lanna-style viharn features an impressive overlapping four-tiered roof with “Naga” serpents along the gables and “Garuda” chofas at the apex of each of the four tiers.
The building doesn’t have a hint of silver on the exterior and is instead a beautiful mixture of gold and red with an umbrella finial at the top.
The entrance is guarded by two of the most impressive naga serpents (that I saw while) in Chiang Mai with some green-skinned Yaksa guardians standing behind them.
Similar to the exterior, the interior of the building is finished almost entirely in red with only the upper parts of the walls, window shutters and columns decorated with golden patterns.
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