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Bangkok, Bangkok · 13.7539°, 100.5083°
A Bangkok temple of Ayutthaya-period origin, known as Wat Sakae until King Rama I renovated and renamed it, and crowned by the Golden Mount, an artificial hill and chedi begun under Rama III and completed under Rama V. Through the 19th century it was the city's principal cremation ground, overwhelmed by the dead during the cholera epidemics between 1820 and 1881.
What follows is the temple’s own traditional account, transmitted through liturgy and local memory. It is recorded here as tradition, not as attested history.
The vultures of Wat Saket, the flocks that fed on corpses left exposed during those epidemics, passed into Bangkok speech as a byword for death and gave rise to ghost stories about the place.
coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-27 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Rattanakosin
Answers only from cited records
Opening the line…