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Bang Pa-In Palace Discovered

3,376 views · Published 19 March 2015 · 4:59 · Indexed 19 October 2026

Channel: Nigel Fowler Sutton · 2015 · Travel & Events

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พระราชวังบางปะอิน
Sixty kilometres north of Bangkok and close to the ancient city of Ayutthaya, is the beautiful Bang Pa-In Palace, built as a summer residence for the Kings of Siam on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. This is a really popular place on the tourist trail with throngs of Thai school children and Chinese tours.... The Palace opens at 8.00am. I was here a 8.00am and had the place to myself, apart from the gardeners, for one and a half hours. Fantastic.

The palace was originally created by King Prasat Thong in 1632.
Following the Burmese raids of 1767, the palace was laid to waste and abandoned for almost 100 years. During the reign of King Rama IV, better known as King Mongkut (1851-1868), a temporary residence was constructed on an outer island close to the former palace complex.
However, the palace we see today dates from from the time of his successor, King Chulalongkorn the Great (1868-1910), one of Thailand's greatest rulers. Construction began in earnest in 1872 and and continued until 1889.  . The king also expanded the area to create a magnificent "Versailles" style garden. 
The architecture of the buildingss have a distinct European flavour with the exception of the  Phra Thinang Wehart Chamrun, the Royal Residence of the Heavenly Light, the two-storey Chinese-style mansion. My favourite, though, is the Ho Withun Thasana, the 'Sages Lookout', built in 1881 as a lookout tower........

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