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| Aisawan-Dhipaya-Asana Pavilion |
The Royal Palace at Bang Pa-In has a history dating back to the 17th century. According to a chronicle of Ayutthaya, King Prasat Thong had a palace constructed on Bang Pa-In Island in the Chao Phraya River. A contemporary Dutch merchant, Jeremias van Vliet, reported that King Prasat Thong was an illegitimate son of King Ekathotsarot (1605-1610/11), who in his youth was shipwrecked on that Island and had son by a woman who be friended him. The boy grew up to become the Chief Minister. After having usurped the throne, he became known as King Prasat Thong.
The King founded a monastery, Wat Chumphon Nikayaram, on the land belonging to his mother on Bang Pa-In Island, and then had a pond dug and a palace built to the south of that monastery. The chronicle records the name of only one building, The Aisawan-dhipaya-asana Royal Residence, which was constructed in 1632, the year of the birth of his son, the future King Narai (1656,1688). lt is not known whether or not the palace was in use till the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767.
However by 1807, when the Kingdom’s best known poet, Sunthon phu, sailed past Bang Pa-In, only a memory of memory of the palace remained, for the site was neglected and overgrown.
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| Ho (Tower) Withun Thasan |
The palace was revived by King Rama IV of the Chakri dynasty, better known in the West as King Mongkut (1851-1868), who had a temporary residence constructed on the outer Island that because the site of the Neo-Gothic style monastery, Wat Niwet Thamprawat, which was built by his son and heir, King Chulalongkorn(Rama V).
The present-day royal palace dates from the reign of King Chulalongkorn(1868-1910), when most of the building standing today were constructed between 1872-1889.
Today the palace is used occasionally by Their Majesties King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama lX) and Queen Sirikit as a residence and for holding receptions and banquets.
The Outer Palace
Similar to most Thai royal palaces, the compound is divided sections, the Outer and the Inner Palace. Whereas the Outer consists of building for public and ceremonial uses, the Inner Palace is reserved for the King and his immediate family. Formerly the Inner Palace was forbidden to male members of the court.
The principal buildings in the Outer Palace are the following:
1. Ho Haem Monthien Devaraj.
2. Sabakarn Rajaprayoon.
3. Aisawan-dhipaya-asana Pavillion.
4. Phra Thinang Varobhas Bimarn, Residential Hall.
Ho (Shrine) Haem Monthien Devaraj
(Golden Palace of the God King)
Ho Haem Montlen Devaraj is a small stone structure in the form of a Khmer-style Prasat (residence of a king or god with a corncob-shaped super structure) built by King Chulalongkorn in 1880 and dedicated to King Prasat Thong of Ayutthaya, the literal translation of whose name is King of the Golden Palace, because a miniature Khmer-style Prasat of gold was discovered during his reign.
Sabakarn Rajaprayoon
(Assembly Hall for Royal Relatives)
As its name implies, this colonial style two-storey structure was built in 1876 for King Chulaiongkorn's brothers and their suites. Today. Sabakarn Rajaprayoon is used as the building for the permanent exhibition at Bang Pa-In Summer palace.
Aisawan-dhipaya-asana Pavilion
(The Divine Seat of Personal Freedom)
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| Phra Thinang Varobhas Bimarn Residential Hall |
Phra Thinang Aisawan-dhipaya-asana is a Thai-style pavilion with four porches and a spire roof build by King Chulalongkorn in the middle of an outer pond in 1876. lt is a copy of the Phra Thinang Aphonphimok Prasat in the Grand Palace, which was build by his father, King Mongkut, as a pavilion for changing regalia before mounting a palanquin.
King Chulalongkorn named this building Aisawan-dhipaya-asana after King Prasat Thong’s original pavilion. This pavilion now house a bronze statue of King Chulalongkorn in the uniform of a Field Marshal which was set up by his son King Vajiravudh (Rama VI).
Phra Thinang Varobhas Bimarn, Residential Hall
(Excellent and Shining Heavenly Abode)
Phra Thinang Varobhas Bimarn is a Neo-Classic style one-storey mansion built by King Chulalongkorn in 1876 as his residence and throne hall.
The audience chambers and ante-rooms are decorated with oil paintings depicting significant events in Thai history and scenes from Thai literature. The series of historical paintings was commissioned by King Chulalongkorn in 1888. The private apartments of his building, which are located in the Inner Palace section, were used by Their Majesties whenever they reside at Bang Pa-In Palace.
The Inner Palace
The Inner Palace is separated from the Outer Palace by a covered bridge with a louvered wall from which the court ladies could look out without being seen themselves.
The bridge connects the Varobhas Bimarn Mansion to the Devaraj-Kunlai (The God King Goes Forth) Gate; which is the principal entrance to the Inner Palace. Within the Inner Palace are residential building, pavilions and gazebos laid out in a garden setting, for King Chulalongkorn was particularly fond of gardening.
Located in the Inner Palace are the following;
1. Uthayan Phumisathian Residentail Hall.
2. Ho Withun Thasana, Tower.
3. Wehart Chamrun Residential Hall.
4. Phra Tamnak Fai Nai.
5. Memorials, one to Queen Sunandakumariratan and the other to a royal consort and children of King Chulalongkorn.
Uthayan Phumisathian Residential Hall
(Garden of the Secured Land)
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| Phra Thinang Uthayan Phumi Sathian Residentail Hall |
Phra Thinang Uthayan Phumisathian was the favorite residence of King Chulalongkorn when he stayed at Bang Pa-In Palace, sometimes as often as three times a year. Built in 1877 of wood in the style of a two-storey Swiss chalet, the mansion was painted in two tones of green. In the words of Prince Oohhtomsky (Prince E. Ookhtomsky, Travels in the East of Nicholas II Emperor of Russia when Cesarewitch 1890-1891. Ed. Sir George Birdwood, (London Archibald Constable and company, 1896). Vol. II. P. 240.), a Russian officer who accompanied the Czarevitch, the future Czar Nicholas ll of Russian, on a visit in 1890, it was “furnished luxuriously and with refined taste and comfort." Unfortunately, while undergoing a minor repairs it was accidentally burnt down in 1938. The new building which replaced it was constructed in 1996 at the expressed wishes of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit. The water tank, disguised as a crenelated Neo-Gothic tower, is only part of the original structure still in existence.
Ho (Tower) Withun Thasana
(The Sages Lookout)
The observatory was built by King Chulalongkorn in 1881 as a lookout tower for viewing the surrounding countryside.
Phra Thinang (Royal Residence) Wehart Chamrun
(Heavenly Light)
This Chinese-style two-storey mansion was built by the equivalent of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and presented to King Chulalongkorn in1889.
Prince Ookhtomsky recorded that.
"lt is really a palace of romance, with ornamented tiled floors, massive ebony furniture, gold, silver, and porcelain freely used for decorative purposes, and delicate fretwork on the columns and on the windows. Evidently we have before us the principal sight of Bang Pa-In. The Emperor of China himself can scarely have a palace much finer than this!" (ibid., pp. 245-246).
The ground floor contains a Chinese-style throne; the upper storey houses as altar enshrining the name plates of King Mongkut and King Chulalongkorn with their respective queens.
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| Phra Thinan (Royal Residence) Wehart Chamrun |
This Chinese-style mansion was the favorite residence of King Vajiravudh, Rama VI (1910-1925) when he visited Bang Pa-In Palace.
Phra Thinan Fai Nai
(Royal Residence of the Inside)
Within the precincts of the Inner Palace were many Western-style buildings of one or two storeys for the ladies of the court, of which only a few remain today.
Memorial to Queen Sunandakumariratana.
In 1880 Queen Sunandakumariratana drowned when her boat sank in the Chao Phraya River while she was on her way to Bang Pa-In Palace. King Chulalongkorn, overcome with grief, set up a marble obelisk as a cenotaph to her memory. The King composed the dedication himself in Thai and English.
Memorial to Princess Saovatbhark Nariratana and Three Royal Children.
In the year 1887 Princess Saovabhark Nariratana, a consort of King Chulalongkorn, and three of his children died, so the king had a marble cenotaph bearing their portraits built for them near the earlier Memorial to Queen Sunandakumariratana.
