Slide 4
Slide 4 text
The Temple Samples X-ray measurements XAS Optical spectroscopy Conclusion
The Emerald Buddha
The Temple houses a small statue
of the Buddha carved from green
stone.∗
The story goes that it was carved in the 1st
century CE in Patna, India. Over two
millenia, it took a complex path driven by
Buddhist evangelism, war, and natural
disaster from India to Sri Lanka, Cambodia,
Lanna (now in northern Thailand), Laos, and
finally to the Thai capital, then called
Rattanakosin (“Keeping place of the Emerald
Buddha”), in 1784 during the reign of King
Rama I.
Today, the statue and its temple are
both a tourist attractions and a
sacred Buddhist temple.
Spectroscopy on antique Thai glass 4 / 31
This image is from Wikimedia Commons
∗jadeite (NaAlSi2O6)