Wat Thep Sathit in Ang Sila

Wihan Thep Sathit Phra Kitti Chaloem (วิหารเทพสถิตพระกิติเฉลิม) or Nacha Sa Thai Chue Shrine (ศาลเจ้าหน่าจาซาไท้จื้อ) is a very impressive Chinese temple in the town Ang Sila, close to the city Chonburi, about halfway between Bangkok and Pattaya. It is thus an easy place for a day-trip from either location.

Sadly photography inside the building was not allowed, so I can only show pictures of the outside, but from the many decorations visible in these photos one can already get an impression of the similar details inside. On four storeys it has statues of many Chinese deities. Knowing almost nothing about the Chinese belief I could only be impressed by the artistic work in these statues.

From the website of the temple - sadly only in Thai - I could find the history of this temple. In March 1991 the teacher Somchai Choesiri (สมชาย เฉยศิริ) established a small shrine at this place on an area of 200 square wa (800 m²). The shrine became very popular to the local population as well as businessmen, so on July 18 1995 Somchai Choesiri could lay the foundation stone for the new building, in order to finish it for the celebration of the 72th birthday of HM the King in 1999. On January 11 1998 the Supreme Patriarch presided over a ceremony of casting 7 Buddha images and bestowed the name Wihan Thep Sathit Phra Kitti Chaloem to the temple. The whole site now covers 13 rai (2 ha).

Some more photos can be seen in a Thai blog post by MeiJJ.