Visit Watbuddharam, the Thai Buddhist temple in Finland

20 January 2021

Watbuddharam is a Thai Buddhist temple located in Nurmijärvi, about 50 km north of Helsinki, in a quiet area close to road 45 between Hyvinkää and Vantaa.
This temple is open to everyone, even non-Thai and non-Buddhist visitors. But because of the COVID-19 restrictions, it’s advisable to contact the Temple in advance to be sure there won’t be too many people in the temple.
All the contact information is displayed at the bottom of this page, under the photo gallery.

(Link to Google Maps)

I visited the temple at the beginning of January 2021 when the temperature was about -25°C. I wasn’t sure if my drone batteries would withstand such a low temperature but I was able to fly and take nice aerial pictures.
At this time of the year, the sun is still low in the sky and the sun sets at 16h00 (4.00 PM) and when it’s not too cloudy we can get beautiful shots.

Temples in Finland?

In Finland, there are only two Thai temples with resident Monks, Watphuttatham in the city of Turku and Watbuddharam in Nurmijärvi, which is the biggest one with its new building.
There is another Thai temple, Wat Asokaram, in the city of Lohja but without permanent monks.

I write “Thai temple” because there are also Vietnamese temples, Chùa Đại Thọ in the city of Kerava but also in the cities of Turku and Tikkurilla and one Burmese temple in the city of Jyväskylä.

The first Thai temple was created around 2000 (2543 in the Thai calendar) in Kulosaari, in the suburbs of Helsinki. Then it moved to Sippo and then to Nurmijärvi on 1st November 2010.

Watbuddharam, the first temple in Nurmijärvi

On 17th August 2017, the construction of the big temple in Nurmijärvi began, it was built by the company Honka. It’s a 13 x 31 meter-long wooden log building with an interior surface area of 400 m² and can welcome 250 people. The construction cost €1.1 million.
This temple was ready in March 2019 and it opened in April 2019 for the Songkran ceremony, the Thai New Year.

There is a big Thai community in Finland, about 10,000 people but there are about 2,000 Buddhist members of all nationalities.
Buddhists can come to pray and meditate, they can also spend several days and nights at the temple; there are beds, kitchens, showers, everything to accommodate people.

Phra Maha Nuan Chamnanram is the Abbot of this temple and Pranom Heinonen is the Chairman of the Finnish-Thai Buddhist Association.

Phra Maha Nuan Chamnanram

Pranom Heinonen and Phakinee Phiuphong

Watbuddharam

First, I would like to thank the two resident Monks, Phra Yutthapol and Phra Kong who welcomed me and offered me their hospitality.

: พระยุทธพล

: พระก้อง (วิทยา)

Even if I’m not Thai or Buddhist, Phra Yutthapol and Phra Kong gave me a very nice, warm welcome. They made me feel comfortable, replied to all my questions, gave me a full visit to the temple and were so friendly with me that I had the feeling I had known them for years.

You can often see Thai people coming to pray and meditate but also bringing donations or cooking for the Monks.
Despite the fact they didn’t know me, they were all very nice to me, offering me food and drinks. I immediately felt I was part of their community.

Upon your arrival at Watbuddharam, you can see two big buildings, a yellow house on the left and the big new temple right in front of you.

The yellow house is the former temple, and it is where the Monks live and greet small groups of people. They now use it as their chanting room. You can hear them chanting in the first and last videos.

The main temple is really big. Once inside I felt like I was in Thailand with all the scent of incense. It’s a peaceful and spiritual place, perfect to meditate and like all places of worship, you must respect them and remain silent. Don’t forget to remove your shoes when you go inside.

Here is a video presenting Watbuddhawam Thai temple (exterior, aerial and interior views).

There are Thai and Buddhist ceremonies all year long but because of the COVID-19 restrictions, a lot have been cancelled and others will be limited in terms of numbers of visitors. There are sometimes outdoor Thai markets where Thai residents come to sell their handmade products or homemade food. If you want to taste, eat or buy authentic Thai food, then this is the place for you!
I don’t know when the next ceremony will take place but my advice is to contact Phra Yutthapol directly by email or on his Facebook page.

You can normally park directly in front of the temple, but when there are big ceremonies or outdoor markets, they open their main car park which is just before the temple, you cannot miss it. There is a small path which leads to the temple.

In summer, the garden must be very pleasant and relaxing. You can sit and enjoy the peacefulness but also walk around, the visit is completely free, you simply have to respect the area and surroundings.

It was very cold when I visited the temple, taking pictures and flying the drone at -25°C was a big challenge for the batteries but also for my fingers froze very quickly. But I spent an incredibly good moment and I just hope to go back again in spring and why not in summer too. The pond will have thawed out, the trees and flowers will be blooming and the birds will be singing again.

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Time for a sunset!

Although it was very cold, the weather was beautiful, sunny with a clear blue sky. I couldn’t end my journey without taking a few sunset pictures.

Here are all the pictures I took at the temple. If there are some you would like, feel free to contact me, it will be a pleasure to send them to you.
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