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| Loha Prasat view |
This
is a Royal Temple & Monastery. It is located in Rattanakosin
(the Old City), near an old fort,
City Paraket Phrakan
and another amazing temple called the
Golden Mount.
In the middle, there is a strange structure known as Loha
Prasat,
which means 'iron
castle'.
37 black metal spires offer a strong contrast with the whiteness of
the structure.
As
it is always the case in religious architecture, the Loha Prasat has
a symbolic construction. It is built in a square shape, a
representation of the Earth. It has 37 black spires. This represents
the exact number of virtues needed to reach Enlightenment. Now, the
Metal Castle is 36 meter high. More interestingly, it has 3 square
levels (an odd number this time). Each level is superposed a bit like
a wedding cake. The bottom square has 24 iron spires (hours
in a day?);
the middle one has 12 spires
(months
in a year?);
the top is made of 1 spire (the
Enlightenment stage?).The
total number of spires is 37 (an odd number > 3 + 7 = 10). The
combination of odd and even number is interesting: 36 (3 + 6 = 9)
/37. Even numbers have a human connotation whereas odd numbers hold a
sense of mystery that fits religion. Therefore, Loha Prasat could
well be a visual architectural symbol revealing how to reach
Enlightenment in a human life's time.
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| Iron spires |
Another
interesting feature consists in the ground floor level. The many
columns are arranged in tiny cells, which provide the feeling of
being in a labyrinth. These cells are for the monks' meditation. But
perhaps this symbolizes the idea that in order not to get lost in the
labyrinth of life, one must meditate in order to reach the
Enlightenment. So there is a spiral staircase (another symbolic
shape: a representation of the Sky) that leads to an open air walkway
around the top shrine, which contains a relic from Buddha.The Metal
Castle is actually made of 5 towers (another symbolic odd number).
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| Temple gable in sunlight |
By
the way, once you have reached the top walkway, the view is really
fantastic on the 4 sides offering a 360º scope of Bangkok.
There
are so many temples that sometimes we may consider that this is just
another temple to see. Wat Ratchanadda and Loha Prasat are somehow
very different and absolutely unique. Strangely, this reminds me of
Borobodur in Java. I am surprised that the symbolic significance
between both monuments has never been mentioned.
There
is a request to have the old historic city ['Rattanakosin'] be made
a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but unfortunately this request has not
been granted yet.
Christian
Sorand,
Bangkok,
12 August 2014
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| View of Bangkok from the top |
Links:
TripAdvisor article: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g293916-d2209624-r221368502-Wat_Ratchanaddaram-Bangkok.html#REVIEWS
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