The entrance to the temple's viharn or assembly hall

Both of the viharn's main gableboards, front and rear, display ancient Hindu iconography in the form of Indra, lord of thunder and storms and ruler of Tavatimsa Heaven, atop his traditional mount, the multi-headed elephant Erawan.

The graceful viharn is the largest in Bangkok. Rama II himself carved one of the tall, multilayered teak entry doors, now in the Bangkok National Museum.

Both the viharn, or assembly hall, and the temple's ubosot, or ordination hall, contain some of the finest murals of the Rattanakosin era. Depicted are scenes from the life of the Buddha and the lives of the Buddhas of the past.

Also depicted are scenes from the mythical Himaphan Forest and the many creatures, both mundane and mythical, that inhabit it.

The murals were painted during the third reign (1824–1851), though they have undergone restoration and repainting over the intervening years.

The Sri Sakyamuni Buddha, a sublime 14th-century gilded bronze sculpture, was brought to Bangkok from Sukhothai's Wat Mahathat by Rama I. Part of his purpose in ordering the founding of the temple was to accommodate this revered image, which measures over 26 feet in height.

Another view of the eastern façade of the viharn

Detail with monkeys from the murals in the viharn

Detail of creatures in the mythical Himaphan Forest

Elephants in the Himaphan Forest, again in the viharn

The walls and columns within the viharn are also covered with paintings that illustrate the Traiphum or Buddhist cosmology.

Decorative figure on an interior door in the viharn

Decorative scene on another interior door in the viharn

Another view of the Sri Sakyamuni Buddha

Mural detail from the viharn

Another mural detail from the viharn that includes the scene of the Great Renunciation of Prince Siddhartha, the Buddha-to-be

The Great Renunciation depicts Prince Siddhartha—here almost disappearing into the floral background—taking silent leave of his sleeping wife and son following his decision to pursue a path of meditation on the causes of human suffering.

A close-up view of the magnificent Sri Sakyamuni Buddha

A view of the main entry pavilion set within the walled gallery that encloses the temple's assembly hall. In the background is the top of the so-called Great Swing, which in the past was used for a Hindu ritual ceremony.

Detail of a small exterior chapel, with tiered roofs of the ordination hall in the background

Portions of the assembly hall (left) and ordination hall (right rear) are seen here.

Detail from the murals in the ubosot or ordination hall

Another detail from the murals in the ubosot or ordination hall

The ordination hall also contains a replica of the Sri Sakyamuni Buddha.

Decorative details around a window opening in the ordination hall, including a gilded and lacquered panel

Detail of a small Buddha image in the ordination hall

The rear of the viharn or assembly hall rises above the enclosing gallery, seen in the foreground. Such galleries at later Buddhist temples are reminiscent of those that surrounded the central sanctuaries at ancient Khmer/Hindu temples, such as those at Phanom Rung, Prasat Sa Kamphaeng Yai, and elsewhere.

View of the rear gableboard of the assembly hall

Seated Buddhas in dhyana, or meditation, mudra. They line the interior walls of the gallery that surrounds the temple's assembly hall.

Chinese stone sculptures populate the grounds of Wat Suthat and other Bangkok temples. They date from the early 19th century and the reign of Rama III. Most served as ballast on rice barges that would otherwise have been empty on return trips from China, during an era in which the rice trade flourished between that country and Thailand.

A personable-looking musician with an engaging smile—another of the temple's Chinese stone sculptures

Buddha image in a small outdoor chapel to the rear of the assembly hall

Another view of roofs of the entry pavilion and the Giant Swing beyond

An elaborately carved floral design on the gableboard of a minor building on the temple grounds