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Thai Art and Culture

The Ultimate Story of the Royal Grand Palace

I am sure that almost all of tourist who have been to Thailand had a chance to visit the Grand Palace. It is one of the most important Thailand’s landmarks and not only the magnificent the building they are, but also the story of the palace itself is very interesting. I believe that many of tourists who once came to the palace were told about the stories of the palace which there are massive information to hear about. However, there are some more stories that some others may not yet know or discover. The following paragraph will tell you those stories;

1. 1. The palace was built in 1782 and last for almost 300 years up until now. The layout of the building using the same layout of the previous grand palace of Ayutthaya period, which was built more than 1000 years back.
2. The palace which was built in 1782, is base on the benefit of geographical advantage to protect the palace and the city from the enemy, surrounded by the river of Chao Praya so it is really hard for the enemy to attack.
3. The palace is located in the same compound of the royal temple, the layout was also copied from the previous palace and royal temple of Ayutthaya.

The Palace

1. The throne “Chakri Mahaprasart” the architectural design of the building is a combination of Thai and western style. The King Rama the Fifth ordered to build this throne after he visited Europe.
2. This throne was used to welcomed all king and queens who were invited to celebrated the HM The King Rama the Ninth’s 60th accession to the throne.
3. There are more than 10 throne building in the grand palace compound, but on;y several ones still being used for the royal activities.
4. Even so, there are soldier guards on duty 7x24

The Temple

1. The royal temple called, Wat Prasri Rattana Sasdaram, or “Wat Prakaew” in short
2. The temple has no monks live in (it’s because the royal temple)
3. The Emerald Buddha, the Buddha image which is the principle Buddha image of the temple is more than 2,000 years old.
4. The Buddha image has seasonal outfits, winter, summer and rainy season outfits. The cloth will be changed only by the king or a member of royal family.
5. The temple was burned during the reign of King Rama the third and had major rebuild by the King Rama the fifth.
6. The mural painting around the royal chapel is the longest mural painting, the story is Ramayana.
7. One of the biggest pagoda within the royal temple compound is the pagoda that was totally made by golden tile mosaics.
8. The statue of demons in the temple, they are characters from the Ramayana story.
9. The belief of having demons statues on every temple entrances is to protect the temple form intruders.

There are many more interesting stories about the grand palace and the royal temple. What I gave above is just a bit of them. You are always welcome to explore by yourself and to visit Thailand.

 

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