Erawan Shrine, formally the Thao Maha Phrom Shrine, stands at Bangkok's Ratchaprasong intersection beside the Grand Hyatt Erawan. It is an open-air place of worship centred on a four-faced image of Phra Phrom, the Thai form of Brahma.
The shrine was established in 1956 during construction of the Erawan Hotel after repeated problems led advisers to recommend a guardian shrine. Its image was designed and made by the Fine Arts Department and installed on 9 November 1956. The shrine's history is therefore modern, even though the devotion draws on older Hindu and Thai Brahmin traditions.
Worshippers commonly move clockwise around the four faces of Phra Phrom, making offerings and returning with dance or music when a wish is believed to have been fulfilled. The shrine is exposed, crowded and surrounded by traffic, so keep clear of active ceremonies, ask before photographing performers and check current opening arrangements. TAT currently describes it as a free-access Bangkok attraction.