250px, Courtyard of the shrine. Chao Mae Thapthim Shrine ( th, ศาลเจ้าแม่ทับทิม; zh, c=水尾聖娘廟, p=shuǐwěi shèng niáng miào) is a historic Chinese joss house located at 257

Chakkraphet Road Chak Phet Road at front of Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha. Chak Phet Road ( th, ถนนจักรเพชร, ; sometimes spelled Chakkraphet or Chakphet) is a road in Wang Burapha Phirom Subdistrict, Phra Nakhon District, Bangkok, with a t ...

, Wang Burapha Phirom Subdistrict, Phra Nakhon District,

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

near foot of Phra Pok Klao Bridge and

Phahurat Phahurat or Pahurat ( th, พาหุรัด), often known as Thailand's Little India, is an ethnic neighborhood surrounding Phahurat Road in Wang Burapha Phirom Subdistrict, Phra Nakhon District, Bangkok. The area that would become Phahur ...

area, also known as Little India. It's the shrine of ''Chao Mae Thaptim'' (เจ้าแม่ทับทิม; literally: ''Ruby Godmother''), goddess of the sea and maritime according to the belief of the

Hainan people The Hainan people (), also known as Hainam nang (pronounced in Hainanese) or Hainanese people, is a geographic term referring to the natives of Hainan, the southernmost and smallest Chinese province. The term "Hainanese" was frequently used to re ...

since ancient times ( Mazu) similar to

Shui Wei Sheng Niang Shui Wei Sheng Niang (; pinyin: ''Shuǐ wěi shèng niáng''; Thai: ''Chaomae Thongkham'', ''Chaomae Thapthim'') is a Hainan goddess that is worshiped by the Hainanese around the world, especially they who lives on the waterfront area. She is o ...

, another goddess of the sea according to Chinese beliefs as well. Usually,

Thai people Thai people ( th, ชาวไทย; '' endonym''), Central Thai people ( th, คนภาคกลาง, sou, คนใต้, ตามโพร; ''exonym and also domestically'') or Siamese ( th, ชาวสยาม; ''historical exonym an ...

call these two goddesses "Chao Mae Thaptim" and understand that the same goddess. Because they both wear red robes as well. But really, they're different goddess. This shrine was registered as a

house of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is somet ...

since 1917 under supervision of

Ministry of Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

. The interior enshrined wooden image of the goddess. It's said that the

sandalwood Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for us ...

floating to the mouth of

Pak Khlong Talat Pak Khlong Talat ( th, ปากคลองตลาด, ;) is a market in Wang Burapha Phirom Subdistrict, Phra Nakhon District, Bangkok, Thailand, that sells flowers, fruits, and vegetables. It is the primary flower market of Bangkok and h ...

nearby. The building of shrine was damaged by bombing of Second World War and was rebuilt in 1955, as seen today. It has been registered as one of Bangkok's

archaeological sites An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and ...

since 1988.

References

Religious buildings and structures in Bangkok Phra Nakhon district category:Registered ancient monuments in Bangkok Chinese shrines in Thailand Mazu temples {{Thailand-geo-stub