Wat Pho historic listing

Wat Pho marble inscriptions given historic listing by Unesco
FROM Bangkok Post

The historic marble inscriptions in Phra Chetupon Wimolmangkhalaram temple, or Wat Pho, in Bangkok have been registered with Unesco's Memory of the World (MOW) for Asia and the Pacific region.
The committee will send an official letter notifying Thailand of the recognition, and the MOW national committee will present the letter to Wat Pho's abbot, Phra Thampanyabodi, on March 31, the anniversary of King Rama III's death.
On that day, Wat Pho will hold a grand merit-making ceremony in honour of King Rama III, who commissioned the inscription of the country's religious and secular knowledge, including Thai ''hermit'' yoga postures, on 1,360 marble plates in the 1830s .
Wat Pho was built during the Ayutthaya period on the orders of King Rama I. King Rama III commissioned a major renovation of the temple.
He instructed that Thai knowledge ranging from Buddhist precepts, literary works, traditional medicine and yoga postures, believed to have been developed by hermits, be inscribed in marble around the ceremonial hall and nearby pavilions.
This was the first attempt at pooling the art and science wisdom of the Thai people of the time, after Thailand had lost her sovereignty to Burma at the end of the Ayutthaya period.
In those days, the temple also served as an education centre where educated people gathered to discuss their knowledge and exchanged opinions.
Nowadays, Wat Pho is famous for its gigantic reclining Buddha statue and the Thai traditional medicine and massage clinic. A school has also been established inside the temple compound.