North of the royal residence and linked by a connecting gateway lies the Royal Monastery of the Emerald Buddha, 
one of the most venerated sites in Thailand where people convene to pay respect to the Lord Buddha and His Teachings. The Emerald Buddha is enshrined on a golden traditional Thai-style throne made of gilded-carved wood, known as a Busabok,in the ordination hall of the royal monastery. The sacred image is clad with one of the three seasonal costumes (summer, rainy season,and winter). The costumes are changed three times a year in a cerermony presided over by 
His Majesty the King.
The Emerald Buddha is in fact carved from a block of green jade and was first discovered in 1434 in a stupa in Chiang Rai. 
At that time the image was covered with plaster and was thought to be an ordinary Buddha image. Later,however, the abbot who had found the image noticed that the plaster on the nose had flaked off, revealing the green stone underneath.
The abbot initially thought that the stone was emerald and thus the legend of the Emeral Buddha image began.
The image was later taken to lampang where it remained until King Tilok of Lannathai moved it to Chiang Mai,
his capital,where it was fittingly enshrined. In 1552 an interruption occurred in the Lannathai line of succession. King Chaichettah of Luang Prabang,who was the son of a Chiang Mai princess and a Laotian King was invited 
to fill the gap.However,after a relatively short reign he returned to Laos to succeed his father's throne,taking with him,
the Emeral Buddha.
The image remained in Laos for 226 years until 1778 when a Thai army undre the command of Chao Phraya Chakri,
who later become King Rama I, captured Vientiane,the Laotain capital, and the the image was brought back to Thailand. When King Rama I had built the city of Bangkok, the Emerald Buddha was housed within the Royal Monastery 
with due pomp and ceremony.
The Monastery consists of all the architectural features of a Buddhist  monastery but without residential quarters 
of Buddhist monastery but without residental quarters as no monks reside here.
It also serves as the monarch's private chapel and,as such, the ordination hall is furnished with two partitions
in either side of the main altar in order to provide a private retiring room for the monarch.
This feature is found only at the Royal Chapel of Thonburi, which now serves as the ordination hall of Wat Arun, 
located on the grounds of the palace of King Thonburi. In front of the high altar stand two large Buddha images.
These were cast in 1841 by royal behest of King Rama III in dedication to hid grandfather,King Rama I, 
and his father King Rama II. The images were named Phra Phutta yod Fa Chula Lok and Phra Phuttha Loetla Napalai. Another image, Samphuttapanni Buddha image, also highly venerated by the Thai people, is situated in front of
the high altar. It was cast by King Mongkut (Rama IV) during the time he was ordained as a monk.
The wall of the ordination hall are decorated with mural painting. Above the window frames, from the south west
corner on the right of the altar, are a series of painting depicting selected  events of the Lord Buddha's life,
including scenes from his birth, childhood, youth and the Great Renunciation. The murals on the east wall facing
the high altar portray scenes of Temptation and Enlightenment, with a picture of the Earth Goddess underneath the
Buddha's seat. The murals along the north wall demonstrate the Lord Buddha's preaching his Dharma and
his Entering Nirvana and those behind the main altar represent the Buddhist Cosmology. Those behind the window
panels illustrate various scenes from Jataka stories and Thai proverbs.