A bizarre Buddhist temple in Thailand is decorated with hundreds of cartoon characters – including a bronze David Beckham statue.

The building, nicknamed the ‘David Beckham’ temple, attracts tourists and locals to give donations at the site in the south of the Thai capital Bangkok.

The temple is also famous for having unusual statues on the outside of popular cultural icons such as Pinocchio, Mickey Mouse, Superman, Wolverine, the Incredible Hulk and Barack Obama with wings taking a selfie.

David Beckham can also be found there wearing the iconic Manchester United strip bearing a Sharp logo. The sculpture is located just below the Buddha’s altar where devotees pray in the sealed-off main building.

The statue of the former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder was installed in 1998 as part of the World Cup celebrations. He was carved into the main shrine where locals kneel down and pray at the Wat Pariwat religious building.

There are now hundreds of different sculptures of iconic cultural figures, which have been added to the building, alongside mythological creatures and gods from Buddhist scriptures.

Other cartoon characters include Winnie the Pooh, Pikachu and Marvel Comics incarnation, Captain America and Batman.

A temple assistant said: ‘The art in the temple is a big attraction. The master of the temple wants it to stay here for hundreds of years so the next generation can see the culture of this period time.

‘The architect who designed the temple was a Manchester United fan and liked David Beckham. So the chief monk thought it would be a good idea if he included the footballer at the shrine where people pray.’