Wat Rong Khun is very different to any of temple you are likely to see in in Chiang rai, Northern Thailand. It is established by a well-known Thai artist Chalermchai Kositpipat, who had accumulated fund over 20 years from selling his paintings. The temple is materialized based on the artist’s imaginaries and vision. Construction began in 1998 and is expected to end in 2008. “Only death can stop my dream, but cannot stop my project”, says Chalermchai Kositpipat, whose intention is to create one of the most elegant temples in Chiang Rai, which he believes will give him “immortal life”. It seems that the creator and his followers put all of their energies into creating this imaginative temple. Unlike many temples, Wat Rong Khun refuses to accept donations of more than 10,000 baht and the donors cannot have their names recorded on the buildings.
Wat Rong Khun is different from chiang rai temples because the temple is almost entirely white, no other colors are used at all and it designed by an ambitious Thai artist. Inside it contains murals and paintings of the Buddha image and painted enamel ceramic floor that will take another 5 years to complete. The outside is being created with lime sculpture Thai designs decorated with small pieces of mirror that make the building sparkle and shine under the sunlight. Designed to be viewed in moonlight, if you can manage to get there when the moon is out it’s worth the effort – very nice indeed. The building’s material which is used is only snow-white concrete, cement and limestone.
Walking into the main chapel, you’ll be awed by the statue of Buddha which seems to be floating in the timelessness of space. It gives visitors a surreal feel and you start thinking, even if fleetingly, well this could be the adobe of God. All this create incredible white scene of faery when the sun rays illuminated the white statues and its ornaments, and dancing over miniatures pieces mirror incrust them.
