Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
signed by one of the lesser-known Italian architects, G Bruno, and is a two-storey villa sur-
mounted by a four-storey octagonal watchtower. Upon Rama
V
's return from his second
European tour in 1908 he expanded the palace northward, creating an additional private
garden called Suan Sunantha, in honour of his first consort Queen Sunantha, who had
drowned in a boating accident in 1880, at age 19. The garden became the setting of res-
idential houses belonging to the king's consorts and children and is now the campus of
Suan Sunantha Rajabhat University. The Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy, once a
training school for army officers, has been absorbed into the Royal Thai Army's headquar-
ters and, with the academy now relocated outside of Bangkok, the premises have become
the Royal Thai Army Museum. Directly opposite is Ratchadamnoen Boxing Stadium, built
by order of Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram during changes that were being made
along Ratchadamnoen Avenue to create more office space. Work began in 1941 by an Itali-
an contractor named Imprese Italiane All' Estero-Oriente, but the stadium was delayed by
the war and the subsequent lack of building materials. Completed in 1945, the stadium
has become a national institution for the staging of Muay Thai contests.
Royal buildings that were not palaces but residential halls, mainly for the female mem-
bers of the family, have been successfully converted into a number of specialist museums
dedicated to subjects that include the prehistoric pottery of Ban Chiang, a collection of
ancient fabrics and silk, the personal clothing and belongings of Rama
V
, the photograph-
ic work and oil paintings of Rama
IX
, a display of antique clocks and timepieces, a large
display of pottery retrieved from Chinese and Vietnamese junks wrecked of the coast of
Rayong and Chantaburi between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, and a collection
of royal carriages that evokes the brief era between roads being built in Bangkok, and the
advent of the motorcar. The most popular and successful of all the conversions is that of
Khao Din Wana, originally a botanical garden established by Rama
V
, which was given to
the government in 1938 by Rama
VIII
to create Dusit Zoo, a favourite place for Bangkok
families, with its extensive animal collection, picnic areas, playgrounds and lake with ped-
alos.
On the western fringe of Dusit, next to the river, behind a very long, handsome and
ornate fence, is the Bank of Thailand. The offices are housed in a modern building, but
behind this are two palaces that the bank inhabited from 1945 onwards, soon after it was
founded. Bangkhunphrom Palace was the residence of Prince Paribatra Sukhumbhand,
the thirty-third son of Rama
V
. Mario Tamagno was in charge of the architectural design
while Carlo Allegri was chief engineer and Emilio Gollo, who had joined as his deputy in
1899, was responsible for the structural engineering. Construction of the main building,
