Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WALK 4
RAT TANAKOSIN INNER ISLAND 1
The Grand Palace
Our walk takes us inside the Grand Palace and then across the green expanse of Sanam
Luang, the old assembly ground, to the remnants of the Front Palace.
Duration: 2 hours
Rama
I
had a city to build. He had to expunge the memory of an executed king and es-
tablish his own royal line, and it had to be done with extreme urgency. King Taksin's
reign had ended, and Rama
I
's reign had begun, on 6
th
April 1782. Two weeks later, on 21
st
April, Rama
I
installed the City Pillar. Made of cassia wood, the Chiang Mai, or New City
pillar, is housed inside a shrine and is the abode of Phra Lak Muang, one of the guardian
deities of the city. Inside the shrine the king placed the city horoscope, designed to ensure
safety from the Burmese, still a threat from the west and the north. Visit the City Pillar
Shrine today, and there are two pillars. The smallest of them was erected by Rama
IV
, a king
who had also come to power without much of a power base, having spent the previous
twenty-seven years as a monk, and consequently needing to exert his authority. He re-
moved Rama
I
's pillar, replacing it with his own, together with a new horoscope, this one re-
flecting concerns of the new threat, that of the Europeans, primarily the British and the
French, who were circling the kingdom. The old pillar was propped against the wall outside,
where it remained for more than a century, finally being reinstated during restorations in
1986, and placed next to the Rama
IV
pillar.
