Insight Wat Pho: Application for Learning and Tourism in Wat Pho

“The application “Insight Wat Pho” makes you enjoy exploring Wat Pho by turning your mobile phone into your travel buddy and guiding you around the entire area of Wat Pho. Learn about the history, architecture, arts and crafts, and beliefs in Buddhism and Thai culture through audio narration, descriptions and pictures. Reminisce about the place through vintage photos. Seek and catch the real “giant guardians of Wat Pho.” With augmented reality technology, see Wat Pho in a different view you have never seen, and solve the riddle poems inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World. With virtual reality technology, see and explore mural paintings and artworks in the ordination hall of Wat Pho through 360° Virtual Tour. The application “Insight Wat Pho” is suitable for tourists, students, and all the general public, and it is now available on App Store and Google Play.”

[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekgaywt1BPM ]

Wat Pho is an ancient Buddhist temple regarded as the first university in Thailand and one of the World’s popular tourist destinations. However, it has been observed that many visitors perceive Wat Pho merely as a beautiful tourist attraction, while neglecting or overlooking its profound value as an invaluable cultural heritage site. As a result, both Thai and international tourists are often seen engaging in behaviors that show a lack of respect or that cause damage to the monuments and artifacts in Wat Pho. One of the major reasons for this problem is the lack of deep knowledge and understanding of Wat Pho’s historical significance and cultural worth.

The concepts of Environmental Education and Environmental Ethics, which emphasize that people must possess sufficient environmental knowledge in order to participate effectively in solving environmental issues, has been extended and applied to the conservation of cultural environments and heritage sites in Thailand. Therefore, the application “Insight Wat Pho” was developed to create opportunities for people to learn about the history, art, and architecture of Wat Pho, thereby fostering awareness and a sense of responsibility toward preserving its priceless heritage for future generations.

This application transforms Wat Pho into an engaging and enjoyable learning destination by integrating augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies to present Wat Pho’s fascinating contents, which are exceptionally complicated—rooted in deep and subtle beliefs. This includes, for example, the explanations of spatial planning principles, architectural components, artistic details, historical stories, and also the decodes of the riddle poems inscribed on the Epigraphic Archives of Wat Pho which UNESCO registered as the Memory of the World. The application also initiates interactive, site-based activities in the form of games, such as searching for historical viewpoints through old photographs or finding the real “giant guardians of Wat Pho.” These activities enhance both the enjoyment and the learning experience, leaving visitors with lasting impressions and a greater appreciation of Wat Pho’s heritage.

The word “insight” signifies deep understanding, and it also plays on the homophone “inside,” meaning “within.” Thus, the name “Insight Wat Pho” conveys the idea of gaining a profound understanding of Wat Pho. The application aims to serve as an innovation that disseminates valuable and engaging research-based knowledge to a wide audience, thereby promoting opportunities for life-long learning and building a learning society. Ultimately, it seeks to cultivate appreciation of Wat Pho’s cultural value and encourage collective efforts to protect and care for the site. Without insight into the history and heritage values of Wat Pho, visitors may miss the must-sees or damage the fragile antiquities in Wat Pho. With “Insight Wat Pho,” all the people will learn, love, and preserve Wat Pho. This innovation not only enriches the tourism and education at Wat Pho but also serves as a prototype that can be adapted for other cultural heritage sites and tourist destinations. Its ultimate goal is to foster awareness of cultural heritage values and nurture a sense of love and responsibility for safeguarding them for future generations.