Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
top the visitor finds himself in a circular observation room with windows opening in all
directions,” reported the
BangkokTimes
, when the towers were completed. “A ladder leads
down into the tank, a round and lofty chamber of ferro-concrete, and here is found a very
fine echo which makes the climb up the spiral staircase well worth while. Owing to the
formation of the chamber a sound is repeated a score of times, thrown back from the wall
and roof. To clap one's hands is to set a whole battery of artillery in action,” the reporter
added, excitedly. A canal ran alongside the waterworks, and across it Prince Bhanurangsi
Sawangwongse, a younger brother of the king, and owner of Burapha Palace, built a bridge
that he painted black in memory of his deceased wife and son. he bridge was known as
Saphan Dam, or Black Bridge, and at each end were mounted the heads of two oxen. In the
nose of each ox was a brass ring fitted with a chain and a small metal cup. Any passerby
needing a cooling drink of water could press the ox's nose and clean water from the wa-
terworks would gush into the cup. Sadly this fascinating structure has long gone, but the
area is still known as Saphan Dam.
Back on Luang Road, and looking towards the second moat, on the far bank can be
seen an imposing white façade with green shutters. This is the former central prison,
opened in 1890 and closed nearly a century later. Most of the buildings were demolished,
but the offices and receiving areas, a cellblock, part of the wall and several watchtowers
have been left standing. The offices have been converted into the Corrections Museum,
while the interior area has been turned into Romaneenart Park, verdant parkland with
fountains and sports courts where human misery once dwelled. Rama
V
had studied the
British prison system and he had the jail based on Brixton Prison in London. He also
began prison reform, banning the more barbarous treatment of the inmates. Even so, life
in a Siamese prison was not exactly a walk in the park, as it were. The penal system was
based on punishment and suffering, and the museum is a gruesome one. The idea for a
museum grew out of the training centre that was set up for prison officers in 1939 at Bang
Kwang Central Prison, the notorious “Bangkok Hilton”, which is located just outside the
city at Nonthaburi, so historical authenticity is guaranteed. Of particularly macabre in-
terest is the recreation of the execution chamber, set up in one of the blocks. When de-
capitation was replaced by machine-gun fire, in 1934, a neat way was found to obviate the
Buddhist strictures against killing. The prisoner was strapped to a frame, and a blanket
marked with a target was hung between him and the gun. The executioner was therefore
simply indulging in a little harmless target practice.
