Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the total eclipse of the sun, which as a keen astronomer he had predicted two years be-
fore the event. The journey had been a state occasion and had included a large number of
foreign dignitaries. The eclipse had happened on 18
th
August exactly when and where the
king had calculated it would, and represented an enormous triumph for him in establish-
ing a reputation for Siam as a civilised country, an important strategy to keep at bay the
circling colonial powers. But the king contracted malaria on his visit and died six weeks
after returning to Bangkok. Prince Chulalongkorn, who had been on the journey with his
father, and had also contracted malaria, became Rama
V
. He ordered the painting of the
mural and also had some of his father's ashes buried beneath the Buddha image.
The inner moat was part of the original defence works and is crossed by historic bridges.
The enormous symmetrical bulk of the Ministry of Defence was completed in 1884,
designed in a European style, and originally named Rong Taharn Na, or Front Barracks.
On the lawn in front of the building is the Museum of Cannon, displaying a large selection
of artillery, including most notably Phraya Tani, the seventeenth century siege cannon
that was built by the sultan of Pattani in response to territorial ambitions by the Siamese.
Pattani later became a tributary state of Siam, but broke away during the fall of Ayutthaya.
Rama
I
sent his brother, Deputy King Maha Sura Singhanat, to recapture the province.
The campaign was successful, and Phraya Tani and a twin cannon, Seri Negara, were both
seized. The two cannon were loaded on board a ship, but Seri Negara fell overboard, and
lies on the seabed to this day. Phraya Tani is the symbol of Pattani, which remains a rest-
less province, with a largely Muslim population that has more in common with Malaysia,
with which it historically has a closer relationship. During a time of recent unrest it was
noticed that the muzzles of the cannon on the Defence Ministry lawn were pointing to-
wards the Grand Palace, and they have now been turned to politely point to the south and
the north. Phraya Tani and its twin were the largest cannon ever cast in Siam.
In 1887 Rama
V
issued a decree to establish a War Department, and he began to ar-
range Siam's military affairs along the Western pattern, to demonstrate that this was an
advanced nation and not one that required the civilising intervention of the European
