Erawan Shrine, Bangkok · The Morning It Was Smashed

The Erawan Shrine stands at a corner of a shopping complex in central Bangkok. Worshippers come without pause, and dancers perform under the shelter beside it to repay their vows.

The image was brought in to settle the site after a run of accidents during the building of the hotel in 1956, and its incense has outweighed everything around it ever since.

One morning in 2006 a loud impact broke the stone image into pieces. It was recast later, but where those fragments went has never been made clear.

Folklore / Bangkok · Thailand / 1956