Since then, each successive king has been personally involved in adding, restoring and embellishing the temple during their reigns as a way of making religious merit and glorifying the dynasty.

Many important state and royal ceremonies are held within the temple each year, presided by the king in person and attended by government officials.

When King Rama I made Bangkok the capital city of the Rattanakosin Kingdom on 6 April 1782, a suitable royal palace and temple was needed to legitimize the new Chakri dynasty.

[1][2] Rama I established the Grand Palace on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River, within the fortified city area now known as Rattanakosin Island.

[4] The temple's main hall was the first building within the entire palace compound that was completed in masonry, while the king's residence was still made of wood.

In February/March 1785, the Emerald Buddha was transported with great ceremony from its former home at Wat Arun in Thonburi across the river to the Rattanakosin side and installed at its present position.

Annual rites are also held on Chakri Memorial Day, the Royal Ploughing Ceremony, the King's Birthday and Songkran (the traditional Thai new year).

The wall contains eight small pavilions with tall spires, each housing a double bai sema stone covered in gold leaf.

Previously, the image was housed in the Emerald Buddha hall in the Wat Arun complex on the Thonburi side of the Chao Phraya River.

The pediments at either end of the roof depict the Hindu god Narayana (or Vishnu) mounted on the back of a Garuda (a mythical half-man, half-bird), with the latter holding in both hands the tails of two Naga serpents.

[15] The walls of the Ubosot are extremely thick, and inside the inner door frame guardian deities are depicted in gold carrying either spears or swords.

She is depicted right above the central door, wringing out water from her hair, creating a great flood that drowned Mara and his army.

Below the windows, the northern wall depicts a royal procession by land, with the king seated on a war elephant and marching troops on either side.

The sacred image is of the meditating Gautama Buddha seated in the lotus position, made of a semi-precious green stone (usually described as jade), clothed in gold,[20] and about 66 centimetres (26 in) tall.

[21][22] The multi-tiered pedestal (ฐานชุกชี: than chukkachee) of the Emerald Buddha is in the shape of a butsabok throne, an open pavilion on a pyramidal base, topped with a tall spire.

[28][29] Surrounding the Ubosot, all along its four sides are twelve open sala rai (ศาลาราย), or pavilions, with grey marble bases.

[30] Opposite the front of the Ubosot is a stone image of Chao Mae Kuan Im (or Guanyin), a Bodhisattva known as Avalokiteśvara in the Mahayana branch of Buddhism.

She sits in front of a sandstone column topped by a bronze lotus flower, and is flanked by two stone mythical birds called Nok Wayupak.

The ox statues were moved into the temple by Rama V. Around this area, incense sticks can be lit and flower offerings made by the public, as these activities are prohibited within the Ubosot itself.

Normally closed to the public, the pantheon is opened annually on 6 April for Chakri Memorial Day, a national holiday in Thailand.

This previous structure was built in the middle of a pool on raised columns to protect the texts from termites; such buildings were a common feature in Thai temples.

The Phra Mondop is richly decorated on the exterior walls—twenty square columns with indented corners surround the central hall.

The exterior walls are adorned with the thepphanom motif, or devas in prayer, covered with gold leaf and surrounded with green glass.

[41][42] The Phra Si Rattana Chedi (พระศรีรัตนเจดีย์) is on the western end of the Than Phaithi and houses relics of the Buddha from Sri Lanka, which were given to Rama IV.

The stupa was later entirely covered in gold-coloured tiles specially imported from Italy by Rama V. The bell-shaped stupa is made up of several tiers, with large round bases leading up to a bell-shaped middle, interrupted by a square section that is then topped with twenty concentric circular discs of decreasing size topped by a tall spire.

In 1882, on the centenary of the founding of Bangkok, Rama V ordered the construction of three monuments in the form of a butsabok throne to house depictions of the insignia of previous kings.

Each of the golden butsabok thrones are built on raised marble bases, each side with inscriptions describing each king's contribution to the building or repair of the temple itself.

The prang are arranged from north to south and are differentiated by their colours: the Phra Sammasamphuttha Mahachedi in white is dedicated to the Gautama Buddha.

The Phra Ariya Sawok Phiksunee Sangha Mahachedi in green is dedicated to the Bhikkhunīs (female Buddhist monastics).

The concept of righteous kingship within the epic has long been recognised within Southeast Asia and has been appropriated by many kings to equate their countries with the legendary city of Ayodhya and the titular hero Rama.