Bangkok has had long history of urban growth from a small village with only a few thousand people. According to the prosperity of the fertility of the land and the competence of the kings, Bangkok grew into a great metropolitan city that rich of art and culture.

 

At the end of King Taksin’s reign of Thonburi era, the rebelling emerged in court. Chao Praya Mahakrasatsuek who was commanding the army in Cambodian war, immediately moved his troops back to Thonburi to suppress the rebellion. After the situations had been solved, the citizens requested him to the throne as King Rama I (King PhraBuddhayodfah). The first of his mission is relocation the capital from Thonburi to the opposite side of the river that known as Bangkok.

 

Before that time, Bangkok had been just a small community as a tax station of all international ships that passed into and out of the old destroyed capital, Ayutthaya.

 

Why the capital had to be moved to the east side of the river. It could be estimated that Siam still had conflict with Burma. The new capital on the east side at the arrowhead point had an advantage in defense. The river formed natural defense moats on the west and the south sides of the city. Adding man-made canals to the north and the east, would have defense moats on all sides. The Thonburi palace also was small and could not be expanded because it was blocked by the temple of dawn(Wat Aroon) and Moleelok kayaram temple.

King Rama I rebuilt the nation’s spirit by restoring the arts and cultures in all aspects. The fall of Ayutthaya took all its wealth away from the kingdom. During the Thonburi era of king Taksin, all the energy was spent on wars to reclaim an independence. Within a short period of King Rama I, the art and performing arts in the new city, Bangkok, were also become wealthy again.

On April 8th, 1782 – two days after advancing his troops into the city, king Rama I ordered Phraya Dharmathitikorn and Phraya Wichitnawee to enlist builders and servants to measure and plot the new palace on the land. The chosen location for the new royal palace was originally by Phraya Rachasetti and the Chinese. So the land for their resettlement was provided from Sam-pluem canal up to Sam-peng canal as known the present China-town.

 

It is notable that founding a city required two things, the city pillar and the Buddha’s sacred ash. Whereas people remained thinking of Ayutthaya and wished to return and restore its glory, King Rama I decided to make the city pillar ceremony as a psychological sign to settle Bangkok as a permanent capital.and aroused the spirit of the people.

The city pillar ceremony took place on Sunday April 21st , 1782 at 6.45 AM. It was a Brahman tradition originated in India that Thais adopted for the city establishment ceremony. Once the city pillar was raised, King Rama I took residence at the temporary wooden palace. In the following year, 1783, the construction of the city began.

 

Building the capital was an enormous task. It began with the establishment of registration office to recruited labors from both Siam and neighbor countries such as Laos, Khmer and Chinese. All workers had their wrists tattooed for identification.

The king organized labor forces, some to make new bricks and others to demolish the city wall of the old capital and gather the old bricks. The demolition of old buildings in Ayutthaya could reduce the time to make new bricks and assured the remained buildings could not been any benefit for the enemy.

The remaining Phra Sumen Fort and city wall

The plan of the Grand palace and the Royal Bovorn Satharn Monkol Palace(Palace of the front, 2nd King) were set. The eastern Thonburi fortress and the eastern Thonburi city wall were demolished to expand the area of the new city.

The long deep canal was dug at the east of city as a defensive moat starting from Bang Lamphu and running into the south of the city where Sam-pluem temple was located. This moat was named “Klong Rop Krung” (Canal surrounding the city).

Many canals also were dug on this reign such as Klong Koo Muang Derm, Klong Lod, and Klong Mananak. They were not provided for only transportation, but also were supply a riverine recreational spot for the people to enjoy boat singing festivities during the high tide as were done in the Ayutthaya era. Apart from the 5 main canals, there were further smaller, subsidiary canals that connect with one another like a web. So the small size of population inside the city wall allowed people to set up houses along the banks of the river and canals as they pleased.

 

Once the canals were dug, bricks, cement and wood were prepared; the workers built the city wall along with the forts in between at a distance of 400 metres or less around the city. The city wall and its moat surrounding the capital run a total length of 7.2 kilometres, covering an area of 414 hectars. The wall stands 3.6 metres high and 2.7 metres wide with 16 gates and 14 canon-forts.

The Bangkok city layout obviously duplicated of Ayutthaya. For example, the positioning of the grand palace and the palace of the 2nd king are both at the east side of the river, the emerald Buddha temple being a part of the grand palace resembles the temple of Phra Sri Sanpet that located within Ayutthaya royal palace. In the nearby vicinity, there is the Cathedral of Phra Sri Sakyamuni at the temple of Wat Suthat comparable to the temple of Wat Panan Cheung in Ayutthaya. The commercial areas were divided by the type of business community such as bowl district, flower district, pot district, moulder district, welder district. The golden mountain stupa appears both in Bangkok and Ayutthaya. The reason of this cloning could be based on two reasons. Firstly, the city plan of Ayutthaya was well acquainted and had been sufficiently proven. Secondly, the resemblance with the great kingdom of Ayutthaya was a political message to inform neighboring countries that Siam had become strong and flourished again.

The great city founding celebration ceremony was held after the King Rama I’s coronation ceremony. Monks from temples all over the country were invited to take part in the blessing ceremony performing chants on the wall platform along the entire city wall. There were a great amount of food for offering to the monks and the poors. Raising the golden shower trees along the surrounding wall. The king made a donation at each tree for 3 days. All entertain performances were held entire the ceremony.

 

King Rama I named the new capital in Sanskrit (ancient Indian language)

“Krungthep Mahanakorn Bovorn Rattanakosin
(The great city of angels, the eternal jewel city)

MahindharAyutthaya Mahadilokpob Nopparatratchatani Burirom
(The city of God Indra, the earth endowed with nine gems, the happy city)

Udomratchanivetmahasatarn Amornpiman Awatansathit

(Plenty of Palaces that resembles the heavenly abode where incarnated gods live)

Sakkathatiyavishnukamphrasit”
(A city given by Indra and built by Vishnukam, the builder god)

This city name had been a little changed from "Bovorn Rattanakosin" to "Amorn Rattanakosin" in the reign of King Rama IV (King Mongkut).

Thais always call this city "Krungthep" rather than "Bangkok". Nobody could tell its full name until the Chotikul brothers arranged the city name to be a pop single 2 decades ago. it made all Thais can fluently speak this world's longest city name. Let's try listening.