Wat Phra Kaew Chiang Rai

No record says when the temple was founded. Its old name was Wat Pa Ya or Pa Yia, after the yia bamboo that grew thickly here; in Pali it was called Yarukkhavanarama.

Legends in the Jinakalamali and Ratanabimbavamsa say the Emerald Buddha was made for the monk Nagasena at Pataliputra around 43 BCE, then travelled through Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Ayutthaya, Lopburi and Kamphaeng Phet before the ruler of Chiang Rai brought it here and hid it in a chedi during unrest — legend rather than history. King Mongkut regarded its reliable history as starting with the discovery in Chiang Rai.

In 1434 lightning struck the temple's octagonal chedi, which collapsed to reveal a lacquered and gilded stucco Buddha inside. It was moved to the abbot's quarters; later the stucco on the nose flaked off, showing green stone beneath. The abbot removed the rest of the stucco and found a beautiful green Buddha, and the temple was renamed Wat Phra Kaew. "Emerald" refers to its colour; the material is nephrite jade.

King Sam Fang Kaen ordered the image brought to Chiang Mai, but legend says the elephant carrying it bolted toward Lampang three times, so it stayed at Wat Phra Kaew Don Tao in Lampang for about 32 years until King Tilokaraj brought it to Wat Chedi Luang in Chiang Mai in 1468.

In 1552–53 King Setthathirath, then ruling Chiang Mai, returned to Luang Prabang on his father's death and took the Emerald Buddha with him. In 1564 he moved his capital to Vientiane and built a hall for it, and it stayed there for over 210 years.

In 1779, under King Taksin, General Chakri took Vientiane and carried the Emerald Buddha across the Mekong at Phan Phrao, via Saraburi and Ayutthaya, to a hall at Wat Chaeng in Thonburi. In 1784, King Rama I installed it in the ordination hall of Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram in Bangkok; the exact date is still debated.

Several towns where it once rested have their own Wat Phra Kaew, including Lampang and Chiang Khong district — a different temple from this one in Chiang Rai town.

In 1843 Chiang Rai was restored after the wars against Burma and its key temples repaired. In 1890 a new viharn — now used as the ordination hall — was built on the old foundations: a low-based Lanna wooden hall with a two-tier sweeping roof, about 9.5 m wide and 21.85 m long, with carved doors, similar to Wat Ngam Mueang and Wat Phra Singh.

Lovethailand and several other sources say the Fine Arts Department registered the chedi as a monument in 1935. In 1952 the chedi was restored with the department's approval, and the temple received its consecrated boundary on 6 April 1952 (one source says 1954). From 1950 to 1986 Khruba Wong — Phra Khru Thammawong Wiwat (Wong Thanawangso), later Phra Phutthiwong Wiwat — restored the temple continuously; in 1960 the old ordination hall was dismantled and rebuilt with concrete pillars, keeping some original woodwork.

On 9 November 1961 Khruba Wong installed Phra Chao Lan Thong in the ordination hall. It came from Wat Phra Chao Lan Thong (formerly Wat Phra Chao Saen Thong), whose site is now the governor's residence and Chiang Rai Kindergarten School, via Wat Doi Ngam Mueang. It is a bronze Buddha subduing Mara, about 2 m wide at the lap, about 2.8 m tall and about 1,200 kg; Chiang Rai municipality dates it to around the 16th century CE, and the inscription dated 1726 is on the two bronze disciples cast by a Burmese governor, not on the main image.

The chedi behind the ordination hall has an octagonal base clad in copper and lacquered and gilded all over, with nine rings and a metal umbrella. The present chedi was probably restored or rebuilt over the spot where the Emerald Buddha was found. It was restored again in 1992 with new plaster and gilding.

In 1990 the Chiang Rai Sangha commissioned Phra Yok Chiang Rai, formally named Phra Phuttha Rattanakorn Nawuttiwatsanusorn Mongkhon, to honour the Princess Mother's 90th birthday on 21 October 1990. Made of Canadian jade and carved at a workshop in Beijing, it is 48.3 cm wide at the lap and 65.9 cm tall — close to, but deliberately not identical with, the original. On 2 May 1991 Somdet Phra Phutthachinnawong travelled to Beijing to receive it.

On 20 September 1991 King Bhumibol allowed its consecration in the ordination hall of Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram and anointed it himself, and on 19 October 1991 it was carried in procession to Wat Phra Kaew in Chiang Rai.

The jade Buddha sits in the Ho Phra Yok, a Lanna wooden hall built in 1991 and formally opened by Princess Galyani Vadhana on 26 November 1998. Its murals tell the Emerald Buddha's legend, its discovery in Chiang Rai, the making of the jade image and the 1991 procession. The hall was restored in 2023–24: on 11 April 2023 the jade Buddha was moved temporarily into the ordination hall, and a procession around town was planned for 1 January 2024, though no report confirms it took place.

On 6 November 1995 the temple began building the Hong Luang Saeng Kaew, designed by Chiang Rai architect Nopphadon Thuengkhuanich and sponsored by Amara (Saeng Kaew) Munikanon — hence the name. The two-storey Lanna-style museum displays important Buddha images such as a Phra Phuttha Sihing replica, Phra Chao Than Jai and Phra Phuttha Si Chiang Rai, with Lanna artefacts and contemporary Buddhist art. The ordination hall was restored with Fine Arts Department approval in 2001, and on 13 February 2007 Princess Sirindhorn raised its main roof finial.

Wat Phra Kaew is also a centre of monastic education and administration for the north, with a free general-education school for young hill-tribe monks. On 8 August 2019 its abbot Phra Thammaratchanuwat, head of Sangha Region 6, passed away and Phra Rattanamuni became acting abbot. By September 2022 Phra Khru Suthi Sutsunthon (Sompong Sirimangkalo) was abbot, and on 15 July 2024 he was elevated to Phra Wachiradilok. Annual events include a Gratitude Day merit-making in September and a long-life (suep chata) ceremony at Songkran.