Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew

Temple of a million beers

Category Outsider Art, Curious Places of Worship, Outsider Architecture

Image of Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew located in Changwat Sisaket, Thailand
Image of Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew located in Changwat Sisaket, Thailand Image of Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew located in Changwat Sisaket, Thailand
Outsider Art http://atlasobscura.com/category/museums-and-collections/outsider-art Curious Places of Worship http://atlasobscura.com/category/architectural-oddities/curious-places-of-worship Outsider Architecture http://atlasobscura.com/category/architectural-oddities/outsider-architecture

In 1984, a group of monks in Thailand began an epic game of 100 bottles of beer on the wall. Amazingly, their game continued until there were literally 100s of bottles on the wall, totaling over 1.5 million, and forming the exterior of one of the world's most unique temple complexes.

Almost three decades ago, one monk and his acolytes had grown tired of the mounting litter in the Sisaket area near Cambodia. To promote recycling and cleaning the landscape, the monks encouraged everyone in the area to bring them recycled beer bottles to create a temple complex.

Formed mostly out of green Heineken and brown Chang (the local favorite) beer bottles, the monks began with a temple, and later formed a crematorium, water towers, sleeping quarters and even toilets. Pushed into the concrete of the walls, every detail of the buildings inside and out are formed from the recycled bottles. Aside from whole bottles, the monks also incorporated bottle caps to create mosaics and Buddhist designs inside of the temple.

Today, the monks have no plans to stop building. The more bottles brought to them, the more structures they will build, adding layer upon layer to the Temple of a Million Bottles.

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  • Address Sisaket, Thailand
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Comments

  • & Anonymous January 29, 2012
    Does anyone know of a way to contact these people? or the engineers?
  • A Facebook user March 2, 2010
    I have corrected the map.
  • & Anonymous January 9, 2010
    Khun Han is in Si Sa Ket province Thailand
  • & Anonymous June 24, 2009
    The map marker has not been corrected. And at the top of the page it says this is in Pisanulok. Where is it?
  • & Anonymous June 18, 2009
    The google map marker is in the wrong place - this temple is in Si Sa Ket.