Monuments of Ratchadamnoen, 2020
Script for performance. Quotes and titles are in italics. Action being performed is signaled in brackets [ ]
Early morning on the 10th of December 2019, I returned to Ratchadamnoen Avenue.
While I was away, I heard that the monarchy has seized back portions of the avenue.
I wanted to follow the path described by Thanavi Chotpradit in her thesis paper, Revolution versus Counter-Revolution: The People’s Party and the Royalist(s) in Visual Dialogue:
from the Grand Palace and Rattanakosin Island, built in 1782 to the Western-style Dusit Palace Complex, completed at the beginning of the 20th century.
[turn on overhead projector: pre-1932 map]
[trace the route with finger]
Translated as “The Royal Promenade”, Ratchadamnoen Avenue was conceived to link two markers of the ruling Thai monarchy, its glorious past and its passage into modernity.
[focus on pre-1932 map and turn map around to follow the path]
According to GoogleMaps, the trajectory from the Grand Palace to the Dusit Palace by way of Ratchadamnoen, spans 3.4km and takes approximately 44 minutes to walk.
[focus on Sanam Luang]
I was dropped off at Sanam Luang, which was at the time, taken over by celebrations of Father’s Day.
In Thailand, Father’s Day means the birthday of the King.
Over the banners and tents set up for the occasion, I saw the golden spirals of the pagodas and multi-tiered roofs of Wat Phra Kaew in the distance.
In The Temple of Dawn, the third book of Yukio Mishima’s tetralogy, The Sea of Fertility, Wat Phra Kaew is described as such:
[open book to page 9 and trace lines as I read them]
“guardian temple of the Royal Palace, famous for its principal statue - an Emerald Buddha. It has never been damaged since its construction in 1785. A golden garuda, half woman, half bird, flanked on either side by gilded spires, glistens in the rain at the top of the marble stairs. The green bordered tiles of Chinese red sparkle more brilliantly than ever in the luminous rain.”(p9, Mishima, Temple of Dawn).
[let pages close to title]
[show map]
Along with Wat Phra Kaew, the Grand Palace and Bangkok City’s Pillar Shrine, Sanam Luang constitutes the area of Rattanakosin Island.
In 1782, when Rama I established himself as the first king of the Chakri dynasty, he moved the capital from Thonburi to Bangkok with the fortified city of Rattanakosin as its center.
Shrouded in Buddhist mysticism and spiritual birthplace of the Chakri dynasty, Rattanakosin Island is the foundation on which the current monarchy stands.
[place b&w image of phra mehn on the right]
Sanam Luang is itself sacred grounds, haunted by generations of rulers who were cremated there.
Shortly after the 1932 Revolution that transitioned Thailand from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy, a royalist uprising attempted to bring back absolutism.
The Grand Cremation honored 17 fallen soldiers who fought against the royalists, elevating for the first time, commoners to the rank of national heroes.
[insert b&w images of Grand Cremation on the left]
This symbolic gesture promotes self-sacrificial love for the nation, instead of a King.
[open Pridi by Pridi to page 81]
Pridi Bhanomyong, leader of the civilian faction of the 1932 Revolution wrote to his wife, while in hiding, a few weeks after the revolution:
“Not long now, when things are settled, we will live together as normal again.
Please think of the nation and the people a great deal.
I have started on all these things since Paris.
Once I had decided to take this step, I could not possibly sacrifice my honor.”
Facing Sanam Luang is the new Supreme Court, built in 2013, that came to replace the 1939 building of “International Modernist” style.
[intro post 1932 map]
This architectural style was adopted by The People’s Party, instigator of the 1932 revolution and first ruling government after the fall of absolute monarchy.
Founded by Pridi while a law student in France, The People’s Party was composed of law and political science students as well as members of the military whose aim was to bring democracy and national sovereignty to Thailand.
[place image of old Supreme Court over new one]
The flat roof and open floor plans are antithetical to the hierarchical tiered roofs, favored by the monarchs.
Although the original 1939 building was a registered historical building, it was the first architectural landmark of The People’s Party, to be demolished.
[remove image of old Supreme Court]
A return to the winged roof, reminiscent of Thai traditional temples and palaces, demonstrates which ideology took over.
[collide the two maps]
On the corner of the street past the Supreme Court, is a small statue enshrined in its own temple-like structure of a woman squeezing water out of her hair.
Upon inspecting the plaque next to her, we learn that she is Uthokkathan, the Mother Earth.
[place b&w image of Uthokkathan]
The statue was commissioned by King Chulalongkorn’s wife, Queen Sri Patcharindra and its construction funded by royal money.
The sculpture is in fact, a fountain, from which water still flows.
I recognized her figure as the emblem of the Democrat Party, a long-standing conservative-pro-monarchy party.
Founded in 1946 by Khuang Aphaiwong in opposition to Pridi and The People’s Party, the Democrat Party moved on to accuse Pridi of the assassination of Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII), of whom he was a regent.
A few days after the king's death, a Democrat MP yelled out, "Pridi killed the King!" in the middle of a crowded theater.
The mystery behind the king’s death, found dead in his bedroom, by a gunshot, is still unresolved today.
Across the small canal from the statue of the Mother Earth Squeezing Her Hair, is the Royal Hotel, also known as Royal Rattanakosin.
[collide the two maps: push post-1932 map over]
On 6th of October 1976, the student protestors of Thammasat University demonstrated on Sanam Luang opposing the return of the military dictator, Thanom Kittichakorn, who was ousted in 1973 by the same student group.
Thammasat University, located north of Sanam Luang, was founded by Pridi as an open-door university for law and politics.
[search for photos of R in 1976 on iPhone. Scroll down articles. Leave article visible throughout description of buildings]
[place original image of building]
After months of tension, the students staged a play, denouncing the murder of two electricians.
The conservative newspaper Dao Siam edited the photo of one of the student actors playing the hanged men to bear a resemblance to Rama X, back when he was still a Crown Prince.
This incident unleashed an unprecedented violent backlash from the Thai state force and far-right paramilitaries who surrounded the university and massacred the unarmed students.
Some of the demonstrators fled to the Royal Hotel and were gunned down in the lobby.
Buildings with a similar yellow finish line both sides of the avenue.
They are about four stories high, long boxy structures that span over three city blocks each.
At either end of the building is a cylindrical turret with white concrete shades above each window.
Built under The People’s Party, the use of modern materials such as steel, glass and concrete, is suggestive of the government’s strive towards efficiency and transparency.
[place original image of building]
Originally, the buildings were in exposed concrete.
Following the criticism by conservative royalist thinker, M.R. Kukrit Pramoj, the modern architecture of The People’s Party era, is condemned as “bad taste” and accused of imitating the Avenue des Champs Elysees, in Paris.
[search for Avenue Henri Martin on GoogleMaps and zoomed out to show the Eiffel Tower]
It is perhaps not entirely coincidental that the revolutionaries should want to imitate the main street of Paris, since it was the location where the masterminds of the 1932 Revolution met and planned their coup.
In his memoirs, Pridi fondly recalls his long walks with Lieutenant Prayun on Henri Martin avenue in the 16e arrondissement, one of the streets that breaks off from the star formation of the Champs Elysees.
[remove phone. Back to b&w image of building]
Back to Bangkok, the multi-purpose buildings are now leased for commercial purposes.
Tourists, street peddlers, shoppers looking for a good deal, fill the large sidewalks in an even stream.
The widening of the sidewalks was part of The People’s Party’s project to ease gatherings of big crowds for state processions and celebrations of democracy.
The 24th of June, date of the coup that took down the absolute monarchy, was the National Day.
Now, the main attraction is tour buses, public buses, taxis, motorcycles and tuk-tuks.
The median is dressed with potted plants and low bushes and at every 100 metres, are portraits of the royal family, framed in a radiating gold disk, mounted on golden plinths.
Amidst this activity, is the 14 October 1973 Memorial.
[place b&w image of 1973 memorial]
The plaque next to the monument sums up the purpose of the memorial in one sentence: “built in memory of those who lost their lives during the 14th-16th October, 1973 uprising.”
The remaining paragraphs move on to talk about the funding and construction of the memorial, completed in 2001.
When I visited the memorial the year before, only a lone guard sat at a table among the outdated didactic walls.
As I walked through the exhibit once more, I noticed two pairs of camouflaged legs beneath the freestanding walls.
I quickly took some snapshots and left the premise.
[zoom into b&w image of 1973 memorial and explore abstracted image]
The 1973 Uprising is legendary in Thai leftist politics.
A massive student protest broke out, occupying the entirety of Ratchadamnoen avenue.
Informed by leftist intellectual movements, a central student organization, uniting students from different universities across Thailand, began demanding the resignation of Thanom Kittichakorn, the ruling military dictator at the time.
The protests resulted in violent clashes between the student protestors and the armed forces of the government.
Many buildings on Ratchadamnoen were set on fire.
Finally, in the evening of the 14th of October, King Bhumidol (Rama IX) announced in a televised broadcast that the military regime has come to an end.
Thanom and his accomplices fled the country.
[show stupa]
It was said that the conical shape at the center of the memorial, references the idea of loss and mourning, rather than commemorating a victorious movement led by the people.
More yellow concrete buildings.
[place b&w image of building and move around]
An entire block is dedicated to the National Lottery.
Aside from spaces leased in the buildings themselves, merchants spill into the sidewalk with their pop-up lottery booths, one after the other.
And as if crowning a winning number, a Mercedes Benz car showroom teases the casual passer-bys.
One may be so coped up in this capitalist dream, that one forgets that the Democracy Monument is right behind us.
Set in the busiest juncture of the avenue, in the middle of a roundabout, the Democracy Monument serves as Thailand’s Highway Kilometer Zero, the origin of all roadways in the country.
[remove all images to reveal map]
It is the longest-standing victory monument of The People’s Party.
The center of the monument is a sculpture of Thailand’s first constitution book, on a holy tray.
The tray sits on a 3-meter fort, signifying the third month in the Buddhist calendar, which is June.
Four upright wings surround the sculpture, measuring 24 meters high with a radius of 24 meters, corresponding to the date of the revolution.
The seventy five cannons around the monument stands for the year 2475, which is 1932 in the Buddhist calendar.
I read about the 24th June 1932 Revolution in Runaway Horses: “It was 1932”, the second book of Mishima’s tetralogy began.
[open book to page 236-237 and read from book]
In Chapter 22: “The Current Affairs Club met once a month at the courthouse, and it was here that Honda learnt something about the revolution in Siam of the previous June which brought a constitution to that country […]
The revolution began and ended quietly on the bright morning of June 24th without the citizens of Bangkok being aware of it.
Launches and sampans thronged the Mae Nam River as usual and the shouts of haggler's filled the marketplace.
In the government buildings, affairs crept on at the usual torpid pace.
Only those citizens who went by the palace and noted how its appearance had altered during the night were aware that something was amiss.
Tanks and machine guns commanded every approach, and soldiers with fixed bayonets halted any car that drew near.
The lofty windows of the upper stories of the palace bristled with machine gun barrels glittering in the sunlight.
The King, Rama VII, was at the seaside resort of Pa-In together with the Queen.
The country was an absolute monarchy, but the actual ruler was the regent, the King’s uncle. The regent’s residence had been attacked at dawn by a single armored car, and the pajama-clad prince meekly allowed himself to be brought to the palace in it.
One policeman was wounded in this accident, the only bloodshed in the revolution.
Besides the Prince himself, the members of the royal family and the officials who constituted the main support of the monarchy were brought to the palace one after the other where they were gathered together to hear Colonel Pahon Ponpayuhasena, the leader of the coup d’etat, explain the ideology of the new government.
The National Party had seized power and a temporary government had been set up.
This information was conveyed to the king himself, and after he had sent a wireless dispatch the following morning indicating that he favored a constitutional monarchy, he returned to the capital by special train to be greeted by the cheers of the crowd.
On June 26th Rama VII issued a proclamation approving the new government, immediately after receiving in audience the two young leaders of the National Party, Luang Pradit, [Pridi’s official title] a civilian, and, Pya Pahon Ponpayuhasena, a colonel who was the representative of the young officers.
The king showed himself altogether disposed in favor of the constitutional draft that they presented to him, and at 6 o’clock that evening he bestowed the royal seal upon it.
Siam had become a constitutional monarchy in both name and reality.”
[close book and zoom out]
[place b&w image of Prajadhipok statue at the center of the Democracy Monument and zoom in]
Barely two decades later, a military coup in 1947 dissolved The People’s Party and returned to the monarchy, almost all of its powers that have been stripped by the 1932 Revolution.
Pridi was exiled, never to return to Thailand and died in Paris in 1983.
The royalists wanted to rehabilitate the story of the birth of democracy and turn King Prajadhipok, Rama VII, into the Father of Democracy.
A proposal was made to replace the sculpture of the constitution book with the Royal Statue of King Prajadhipok at the center of the Democracy Monument.
Walking away from the Democracy Monument, the last of the buildings from The People’s Party era stands facing the Royal Pavilion Mahajetsadabadin.
[place b&w image of Thai Niyom mall]
On the left, a 6-story boxy building with two towers on each side, and a sign saying Deves Insurance Company which, under the People’s Party, used to be a community mall called Thai Niyom, forms a stylistic counterpoint to the lascivious plaza, on the right with multi-tiered-roofed buildings destined for the king to receive royal visitors.
A statue of Rama III presides over the plaza.
Although the appearance of the complex may be more akin to the architectural style of, say the Grand Palace, the Pavilion was built in 1989, to replace the Modernist-style cinema, Sala Chalermthai.
[place b&w image of Sala Chalermthai]
Again, M.R. Kukrit writes of the movie theatre, “The location of Sala Chalermthai totally obstructed from view the Temple Ratchanatda…
Once Sala Chalermthai is removed, the Temple Ratchanatda and Loha Prasat will once again shine in their former glory...
That is why, since the demolitions have begun, we should carry on the mission to demolish any architecture that does not blend in with the stylistic tradition of architecture in Bangkok.”
During the 1973 Uprising, the movie theatre served as a hospital for protestors.
The last show at the movie theatre was a play on the exemplary loyalty of a soldier to the King.
It was performed on 12th March 1989, one day before my birth.
Once past the Democracy Monument, we have entered royal grounds.
Mahakan Fort is one of the 14 city forts, of which only two remain, built by Rama I, founder of the Chakri dynasty to protect Bangkok from foreign invasion.
The fort is an octagonal white structure, on three floors, with storage rooms for weapons and ammunition.
Cannons can be deployed at two levels, and an observation tower overlooked the area.
To reach Ratchadamnoen Nok (Outer Ratchadamnoen), I crossed a small bridge decorated with flower arrangements around a “Long Live the King” sign.
[remove images to reveal b&w image of Prajadhipok statue at the center of the Democracy Monument]
I looked over my shoulder and saw, to my surprise, one of the portraits of Rama X, perfectly encircled between the wings of the Democracy Monument.
Greeting me at the five-point intersection before reaching Ratchadamnoen Nok is the Prajadhipok Museum.
Housed in an old headquarters for the clothing company John Sampson & Son, the green 19th century colonial building, topped with a bell tower and white trims, cannot be further away from the bare, simplistic buildings of The People’s Party.
When Prajadhipok received the dispatched message from the capital, inviting him to return as a constitutional monarch and should he refuse, the revolutionaries would declare a republic, he readily agreed to the former.
On December 10th, 1932 Prajadhipok signed Thailand’s first constitution.
He mentioned that he himself had drafted a constitution for the change in regime but his cabinet had advised him against it.
[place images from the exhibit at Prajadhipok Museum]
The revival of royalism that came after the 1947 coup used these two events to claim that Prajadhipok himself was responsible for democracy in Thailand.
The ruling Democrat Party sought to blend royalism with democracy by introducing a parliamentary system with the King as Head of the State.
According to Thai historian, Somsak Jeamteerasakul, “this concept was largely different from the similar type in the West, ‘parliamentary democracy and the King as the Head of the State’.
This ‘Thai-style democracy’ differed from the West in the sense that the Thai monarch was capable of performing political power in many ways.
Furthermore, this concept has positioned the King as the Head of Democracy, thereby constructing the new memory that Thai democracy was a result of Prajadhipok’s granting.” (Chotpradit, 119).
A somewhat curious coincidence: the exhibit on view at the museum at the time of my visit, happened to be on Prajadhipok’s official visit to Italy where he was received by Benito Mussolini.
[zoom out to reveal the book L'Italia Fascista In Cammino dedicated to Prajadhipok from Mussolini]
As I crossed the intersection towards Ratchadamnoen Nok, a large decorated archway, forms the entrance to the avenue.
Ornate cloud motifs and golden bodhi-leaf frames in which the Queen Mother’s signature blue and initials are encased, are built in a cluster leading up to the portrait of a young Queen Sirikit.
[place b&w image of Queen Sirikit archway]
The sidewalks are considerably narrower, lined on both sides by mahogany trees.
The crowd has vanished.
Only occasional cars passed by me.
[place b&w image of building]
The government buildings are of the same style as the new Supreme Court, encountered at the beginning of the walk:
long rectangular buildings with green winged-roofs.
[place b&w image of buildings listed in order, zooming in on portraits of Rama X in each one of them]
The Agriculture and Reform Office
The Youth and Women Welfare Center
Floral arrangements on which the sign ‘Long Live the King’ figures prominently.
The Ministry of Transport
The Ministry of Tourism and Sport
A giant screen at the corner of the building shows a digital promotion of the upcoming Royal Barge Procession.
The Royal Thai Army.
A pale yellow building with a red roof, reminiscent of Neo-classical style but considerably pared down.
In front of the building is a full-size portrait of Rama X, in a gold frame, with royal and Thai flags flying on either side.
The United Nations Conference Center
A red government building, decorated with white reliefs, without a name.
The Ministry of Education
At the corner of Ratchadamnoen Nok and Phitsanulok street, a screen was set up advertising the different roles of a soldier:
a soldier is a construction worker,
a soldier is a nanny,
a soldier is a food-delivery boy, etc…
The fence surrounding the 1st Army Area was considerably low and I was able to film as I walked alongside it.
There was a football field in front of a building.
An army bus and pickup were parked in the main driveway, facing a tall white building with twin portraits of Rama X and his queen on one side and his parents, Rama IX and Queen Sirikit on the other.
The fence gave way to a wall on which is inscribed the country’s revised slogan: “Country, Religions, Monarchy and People.”
When I put down my phone, I realized that I have reached my walk’s destination.
The Dusit Palace stands in stark nudity, compared to the overly crowded Ratchadamnoen and the overly decorated Ratchadamnoen Nok.
[place b&w image of Ananta]
Its centerpoint is the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall, an epitome of absolute power in modern times.
[zoom out gradually out of b&w image of Ananta]
Built entirely out of Carrara marble, combining Renaissance, Baroque and Neo-Classical styles, the throne hall was the most costly building to have ever been constructed in its time.
The Equestrian Statue of Rama V celebrates the builder of the palace.
The plaza, once a public area, is now emptied of all occupants except for the changing of guards.
I watched the small group of white-uniformed men march in unison from one booth to another. The booth closest to me, is towered by a large screen showing videos of processions presided over by the late King Bhumbibol, Rama IX.
Dressed in an ornate golden cape, the King was carried by royal guards, in red attire and pointed yellow caps.
Decorated officials wearing white and black and gold caps, accompanied them out of what it seems to be the doors of the Grand Palace.
The guard below was facing the same direction as the screen, so in no position to be watching it.
Apart from myself, there were no other pedestrians in sight.
Before its mysterious disappearance in 2017, a small dark spot, right next to the statue of Rama V used to stand out against the whiteness of the plaza.
A bronze plaque known as The People’s Party plaque, announced “here, in the dawn of 24 June 1932, Khana Ratsadon [The People’s Party] has brought forth a constitution for the glory of the nation”.
[zoom out gradually out of b&w image of Ananta until the army tanks are visible]
On this very plaza, Phraya Phahon Phonphayuhesena, head of the military faction and leader of the People’s Party read the Announcement of the People’s Party n⁰ 1 facing the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall:
[place excerpts in English of the People's Party Announcement n⁰ 1]
ราษฎรทั้งหลายพึงรู้เถิดว่า ประเทศเรานี้เป็นของราษฎร ไม่ใช่ของกษัตริย์ตามที่เขาหลอกลวง บรรพบุรุษของราษฎรเป็นผู้ช่วยกันกู้ให้ประเทศเป็นอิสรภาพพ้นมือจากข้าศึก พวกเจ้ามีแต่ชุบมือเปิบและกวาดทรัพย์สมบัติเข้าไว้ตั้งหลายร้อยล้าน เงินเหล่านี้เอามาจากไหน? ก็เอามาจากราษฎรเพราะวิธีทำนาบนหลังคนนั้นเอง
เมื่อเราได้ยึดเงินที่พวกเจ้ารวบรวมไว้จากการทำนาบนหลังคนตั้งหลายร้อยล้านมาบำรุงประเทศขึ้นแล้ว ประเทศจะต้องเฟื่องฟูขึ้นเป็นแม่นมั่น การปกครองซึ่งคณะราษฎรจะพึงกระทำก็คือ จำต้องวางโครงการอาศัยหลักวิชา ไม่ทำไปเหมือนคนตาบอด เช่นรัฐบาลที่มีกษัตริย์เหนือกฎหมายทำมาแล้ว
ประเทศจะมีความเป็นเอกราชอย่างพร้อมบริบูรณ์ ราษฎรจะได้รับความปลอดภัย ทุกคนจะต้องมีงานทำไม่ต้องอดตาย ทุกคนจะมีสิทธิเสมอกัน และมีเสรีภาพพ้นจากการเป็นไพร่ เป็นข้า เป็นทาสพวกเจ้า หมดสมัยที่เจ้าจะทำนาบนหลังราษฎร สิ่งที่ทุกคนพึงปรารถนาคือ ความสุขความเจริญอย่างประเสริฐซึ่งเรียกเป็นศัพท์ว่า “ศรีอาริยะ” นั้น ก็จะพึงบังเกิดขึ้นแก่ราษฎรถ้วนหน้า*
[end with inserting image of People's Party crowding in front of Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall]
* translation: “You, of all the people, should know that our country belongs to the people - not to the king, as has been deceitfully claimed. It was the ancestors of the people who protected the independence of the country from enemy armies. Those of royal blood just reap what they have not sown and sweep up wealth and property worth many hundred millions. Where did all this money come from? It came from the people because of that method of farming on the backs of the people! [...]
When we have seized the money which those of royal blood amass from farming on the backs of the people, and use these many hundreds of millions on the country, the country will certainly flourish. The government which the People's Party will set up will draw up projects based on principle, and not act like a blind man as the government which has the king above the law has done. [...]
The country will have complete independence. People will have safety. Everyone must have employment and need not starve. Everyone will have equal rights and freedom from being serfs and slaves of royalty. The time has ended when those of royal blood farm on the back of the people. The things which everyone desires, the greatest happiness and progress which can be called sri-ariya, will arise for everyone.”
While I was away, I heard that the monarchy has seized back portions of the avenue.
I wanted to follow the path described by Thanavi Chotpradit in her thesis paper, Revolution versus Counter-Revolution: The People’s Party and the Royalist(s) in Visual Dialogue:
from the Grand Palace and Rattanakosin Island, built in 1782 to the Western-style Dusit Palace Complex, completed at the beginning of the 20th century.
[turn on overhead projector: pre-1932 map]
[trace the route with finger]
Translated as “The Royal Promenade”, Ratchadamnoen Avenue was conceived to link two markers of the ruling Thai monarchy, its glorious past and its passage into modernity.
[focus on pre-1932 map and turn map around to follow the path]
According to GoogleMaps, the trajectory from the Grand Palace to the Dusit Palace by way of Ratchadamnoen, spans 3.4km and takes approximately 44 minutes to walk.
[focus on Sanam Luang]
I was dropped off at Sanam Luang, which was at the time, taken over by celebrations of Father’s Day.
In Thailand, Father’s Day means the birthday of the King.
Over the banners and tents set up for the occasion, I saw the golden spirals of the pagodas and multi-tiered roofs of Wat Phra Kaew in the distance.
In The Temple of Dawn, the third book of Yukio Mishima’s tetralogy, The Sea of Fertility, Wat Phra Kaew is described as such:
[open book to page 9 and trace lines as I read them]
“guardian temple of the Royal Palace, famous for its principal statue - an Emerald Buddha. It has never been damaged since its construction in 1785. A golden garuda, half woman, half bird, flanked on either side by gilded spires, glistens in the rain at the top of the marble stairs. The green bordered tiles of Chinese red sparkle more brilliantly than ever in the luminous rain.”(p9, Mishima, Temple of Dawn).
[let pages close to title]
[show map]
Along with Wat Phra Kaew, the Grand Palace and Bangkok City’s Pillar Shrine, Sanam Luang constitutes the area of Rattanakosin Island.
In 1782, when Rama I established himself as the first king of the Chakri dynasty, he moved the capital from Thonburi to Bangkok with the fortified city of Rattanakosin as its center.
Shrouded in Buddhist mysticism and spiritual birthplace of the Chakri dynasty, Rattanakosin Island is the foundation on which the current monarchy stands.
[place b&w image of phra mehn on the right]
Sanam Luang is itself sacred grounds, haunted by generations of rulers who were cremated there.
Shortly after the 1932 Revolution that transitioned Thailand from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy, a royalist uprising attempted to bring back absolutism.
The Grand Cremation honored 17 fallen soldiers who fought against the royalists, elevating for the first time, commoners to the rank of national heroes.
[insert b&w images of Grand Cremation on the left]
This symbolic gesture promotes self-sacrificial love for the nation, instead of a King.
[open Pridi by Pridi to page 81]
Pridi Bhanomyong, leader of the civilian faction of the 1932 Revolution wrote to his wife, while in hiding, a few weeks after the revolution:
“Not long now, when things are settled, we will live together as normal again.
Please think of the nation and the people a great deal.
I have started on all these things since Paris.
Once I had decided to take this step, I could not possibly sacrifice my honor.”
Facing Sanam Luang is the new Supreme Court, built in 2013, that came to replace the 1939 building of “International Modernist” style.
[intro post 1932 map]
This architectural style was adopted by The People’s Party, instigator of the 1932 revolution and first ruling government after the fall of absolute monarchy.
Founded by Pridi while a law student in France, The People’s Party was composed of law and political science students as well as members of the military whose aim was to bring democracy and national sovereignty to Thailand.
[place image of old Supreme Court over new one]
The flat roof and open floor plans are antithetical to the hierarchical tiered roofs, favored by the monarchs.
Although the original 1939 building was a registered historical building, it was the first architectural landmark of The People’s Party, to be demolished.
[remove image of old Supreme Court]
A return to the winged roof, reminiscent of Thai traditional temples and palaces, demonstrates which ideology took over.
[collide the two maps]
On the corner of the street past the Supreme Court, is a small statue enshrined in its own temple-like structure of a woman squeezing water out of her hair.
Upon inspecting the plaque next to her, we learn that she is Uthokkathan, the Mother Earth.
[place b&w image of Uthokkathan]
The statue was commissioned by King Chulalongkorn’s wife, Queen Sri Patcharindra and its construction funded by royal money.
The sculpture is in fact, a fountain, from which water still flows.
I recognized her figure as the emblem of the Democrat Party, a long-standing conservative-pro-monarchy party.
Founded in 1946 by Khuang Aphaiwong in opposition to Pridi and The People’s Party, the Democrat Party moved on to accuse Pridi of the assassination of Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII), of whom he was a regent.
A few days after the king's death, a Democrat MP yelled out, "Pridi killed the King!" in the middle of a crowded theater.
The mystery behind the king’s death, found dead in his bedroom, by a gunshot, is still unresolved today.
Across the small canal from the statue of the Mother Earth Squeezing Her Hair, is the Royal Hotel, also known as Royal Rattanakosin.
[collide the two maps: push post-1932 map over]
On 6th of October 1976, the student protestors of Thammasat University demonstrated on Sanam Luang opposing the return of the military dictator, Thanom Kittichakorn, who was ousted in 1973 by the same student group.
Thammasat University, located north of Sanam Luang, was founded by Pridi as an open-door university for law and politics.
[search for photos of R in 1976 on iPhone. Scroll down articles. Leave article visible throughout description of buildings]
[place original image of building]
After months of tension, the students staged a play, denouncing the murder of two electricians.
The conservative newspaper Dao Siam edited the photo of one of the student actors playing the hanged men to bear a resemblance to Rama X, back when he was still a Crown Prince.
This incident unleashed an unprecedented violent backlash from the Thai state force and far-right paramilitaries who surrounded the university and massacred the unarmed students.
Some of the demonstrators fled to the Royal Hotel and were gunned down in the lobby.
Buildings with a similar yellow finish line both sides of the avenue.
They are about four stories high, long boxy structures that span over three city blocks each.
At either end of the building is a cylindrical turret with white concrete shades above each window.
Built under The People’s Party, the use of modern materials such as steel, glass and concrete, is suggestive of the government’s strive towards efficiency and transparency.
[place original image of building]
Originally, the buildings were in exposed concrete.
Following the criticism by conservative royalist thinker, M.R. Kukrit Pramoj, the modern architecture of The People’s Party era, is condemned as “bad taste” and accused of imitating the Avenue des Champs Elysees, in Paris.
[search for Avenue Henri Martin on GoogleMaps and zoomed out to show the Eiffel Tower]
It is perhaps not entirely coincidental that the revolutionaries should want to imitate the main street of Paris, since it was the location where the masterminds of the 1932 Revolution met and planned their coup.
In his memoirs, Pridi fondly recalls his long walks with Lieutenant Prayun on Henri Martin avenue in the 16e arrondissement, one of the streets that breaks off from the star formation of the Champs Elysees.
[remove phone. Back to b&w image of building]
Back to Bangkok, the multi-purpose buildings are now leased for commercial purposes.
Tourists, street peddlers, shoppers looking for a good deal, fill the large sidewalks in an even stream.
The widening of the sidewalks was part of The People’s Party’s project to ease gatherings of big crowds for state processions and celebrations of democracy.
The 24th of June, date of the coup that took down the absolute monarchy, was the National Day.
Now, the main attraction is tour buses, public buses, taxis, motorcycles and tuk-tuks.
The median is dressed with potted plants and low bushes and at every 100 metres, are portraits of the royal family, framed in a radiating gold disk, mounted on golden plinths.
Amidst this activity, is the 14 October 1973 Memorial.
[place b&w image of 1973 memorial]
The plaque next to the monument sums up the purpose of the memorial in one sentence: “built in memory of those who lost their lives during the 14th-16th October, 1973 uprising.”
The remaining paragraphs move on to talk about the funding and construction of the memorial, completed in 2001.
When I visited the memorial the year before, only a lone guard sat at a table among the outdated didactic walls.
As I walked through the exhibit once more, I noticed two pairs of camouflaged legs beneath the freestanding walls.
I quickly took some snapshots and left the premise.
[zoom into b&w image of 1973 memorial and explore abstracted image]
The 1973 Uprising is legendary in Thai leftist politics.
A massive student protest broke out, occupying the entirety of Ratchadamnoen avenue.
Informed by leftist intellectual movements, a central student organization, uniting students from different universities across Thailand, began demanding the resignation of Thanom Kittichakorn, the ruling military dictator at the time.
The protests resulted in violent clashes between the student protestors and the armed forces of the government.
Many buildings on Ratchadamnoen were set on fire.
Finally, in the evening of the 14th of October, King Bhumidol (Rama IX) announced in a televised broadcast that the military regime has come to an end.
Thanom and his accomplices fled the country.
[show stupa]
It was said that the conical shape at the center of the memorial, references the idea of loss and mourning, rather than commemorating a victorious movement led by the people.
More yellow concrete buildings.
[place b&w image of building and move around]
An entire block is dedicated to the National Lottery.
Aside from spaces leased in the buildings themselves, merchants spill into the sidewalk with their pop-up lottery booths, one after the other.
And as if crowning a winning number, a Mercedes Benz car showroom teases the casual passer-bys.
One may be so coped up in this capitalist dream, that one forgets that the Democracy Monument is right behind us.
Set in the busiest juncture of the avenue, in the middle of a roundabout, the Democracy Monument serves as Thailand’s Highway Kilometer Zero, the origin of all roadways in the country.
[remove all images to reveal map]
It is the longest-standing victory monument of The People’s Party.
The center of the monument is a sculpture of Thailand’s first constitution book, on a holy tray.
The tray sits on a 3-meter fort, signifying the third month in the Buddhist calendar, which is June.
Four upright wings surround the sculpture, measuring 24 meters high with a radius of 24 meters, corresponding to the date of the revolution.
The seventy five cannons around the monument stands for the year 2475, which is 1932 in the Buddhist calendar.
I read about the 24th June 1932 Revolution in Runaway Horses: “It was 1932”, the second book of Mishima’s tetralogy began.
[open book to page 236-237 and read from book]
In Chapter 22: “The Current Affairs Club met once a month at the courthouse, and it was here that Honda learnt something about the revolution in Siam of the previous June which brought a constitution to that country […]
The revolution began and ended quietly on the bright morning of June 24th without the citizens of Bangkok being aware of it.
Launches and sampans thronged the Mae Nam River as usual and the shouts of haggler's filled the marketplace.
In the government buildings, affairs crept on at the usual torpid pace.
Only those citizens who went by the palace and noted how its appearance had altered during the night were aware that something was amiss.
Tanks and machine guns commanded every approach, and soldiers with fixed bayonets halted any car that drew near.
The lofty windows of the upper stories of the palace bristled with machine gun barrels glittering in the sunlight.
The King, Rama VII, was at the seaside resort of Pa-In together with the Queen.
The country was an absolute monarchy, but the actual ruler was the regent, the King’s uncle. The regent’s residence had been attacked at dawn by a single armored car, and the pajama-clad prince meekly allowed himself to be brought to the palace in it.
One policeman was wounded in this accident, the only bloodshed in the revolution.
Besides the Prince himself, the members of the royal family and the officials who constituted the main support of the monarchy were brought to the palace one after the other where they were gathered together to hear Colonel Pahon Ponpayuhasena, the leader of the coup d’etat, explain the ideology of the new government.
The National Party had seized power and a temporary government had been set up.
This information was conveyed to the king himself, and after he had sent a wireless dispatch the following morning indicating that he favored a constitutional monarchy, he returned to the capital by special train to be greeted by the cheers of the crowd.
On June 26th Rama VII issued a proclamation approving the new government, immediately after receiving in audience the two young leaders of the National Party, Luang Pradit, [Pridi’s official title] a civilian, and, Pya Pahon Ponpayuhasena, a colonel who was the representative of the young officers.
The king showed himself altogether disposed in favor of the constitutional draft that they presented to him, and at 6 o’clock that evening he bestowed the royal seal upon it.
Siam had become a constitutional monarchy in both name and reality.”
[close book and zoom out]
[place b&w image of Prajadhipok statue at the center of the Democracy Monument and zoom in]
Barely two decades later, a military coup in 1947 dissolved The People’s Party and returned to the monarchy, almost all of its powers that have been stripped by the 1932 Revolution.
Pridi was exiled, never to return to Thailand and died in Paris in 1983.
The royalists wanted to rehabilitate the story of the birth of democracy and turn King Prajadhipok, Rama VII, into the Father of Democracy.
A proposal was made to replace the sculpture of the constitution book with the Royal Statue of King Prajadhipok at the center of the Democracy Monument.
Walking away from the Democracy Monument, the last of the buildings from The People’s Party era stands facing the Royal Pavilion Mahajetsadabadin.
[place b&w image of Thai Niyom mall]
On the left, a 6-story boxy building with two towers on each side, and a sign saying Deves Insurance Company which, under the People’s Party, used to be a community mall called Thai Niyom, forms a stylistic counterpoint to the lascivious plaza, on the right with multi-tiered-roofed buildings destined for the king to receive royal visitors.
A statue of Rama III presides over the plaza.
Although the appearance of the complex may be more akin to the architectural style of, say the Grand Palace, the Pavilion was built in 1989, to replace the Modernist-style cinema, Sala Chalermthai.
[place b&w image of Sala Chalermthai]
Again, M.R. Kukrit writes of the movie theatre, “The location of Sala Chalermthai totally obstructed from view the Temple Ratchanatda…
Once Sala Chalermthai is removed, the Temple Ratchanatda and Loha Prasat will once again shine in their former glory...
That is why, since the demolitions have begun, we should carry on the mission to demolish any architecture that does not blend in with the stylistic tradition of architecture in Bangkok.”
During the 1973 Uprising, the movie theatre served as a hospital for protestors.
The last show at the movie theatre was a play on the exemplary loyalty of a soldier to the King.
It was performed on 12th March 1989, one day before my birth.
Once past the Democracy Monument, we have entered royal grounds.
Mahakan Fort is one of the 14 city forts, of which only two remain, built by Rama I, founder of the Chakri dynasty to protect Bangkok from foreign invasion.
The fort is an octagonal white structure, on three floors, with storage rooms for weapons and ammunition.
Cannons can be deployed at two levels, and an observation tower overlooked the area.
To reach Ratchadamnoen Nok (Outer Ratchadamnoen), I crossed a small bridge decorated with flower arrangements around a “Long Live the King” sign.
[remove images to reveal b&w image of Prajadhipok statue at the center of the Democracy Monument]
I looked over my shoulder and saw, to my surprise, one of the portraits of Rama X, perfectly encircled between the wings of the Democracy Monument.
Greeting me at the five-point intersection before reaching Ratchadamnoen Nok is the Prajadhipok Museum.
Housed in an old headquarters for the clothing company John Sampson & Son, the green 19th century colonial building, topped with a bell tower and white trims, cannot be further away from the bare, simplistic buildings of The People’s Party.
When Prajadhipok received the dispatched message from the capital, inviting him to return as a constitutional monarch and should he refuse, the revolutionaries would declare a republic, he readily agreed to the former.
On December 10th, 1932 Prajadhipok signed Thailand’s first constitution.
He mentioned that he himself had drafted a constitution for the change in regime but his cabinet had advised him against it.
[place images from the exhibit at Prajadhipok Museum]
The revival of royalism that came after the 1947 coup used these two events to claim that Prajadhipok himself was responsible for democracy in Thailand.
The ruling Democrat Party sought to blend royalism with democracy by introducing a parliamentary system with the King as Head of the State.
According to Thai historian, Somsak Jeamteerasakul, “this concept was largely different from the similar type in the West, ‘parliamentary democracy and the King as the Head of the State’.
This ‘Thai-style democracy’ differed from the West in the sense that the Thai monarch was capable of performing political power in many ways.
Furthermore, this concept has positioned the King as the Head of Democracy, thereby constructing the new memory that Thai democracy was a result of Prajadhipok’s granting.” (Chotpradit, 119).
A somewhat curious coincidence: the exhibit on view at the museum at the time of my visit, happened to be on Prajadhipok’s official visit to Italy where he was received by Benito Mussolini.
[zoom out to reveal the book L'Italia Fascista In Cammino dedicated to Prajadhipok from Mussolini]
As I crossed the intersection towards Ratchadamnoen Nok, a large decorated archway, forms the entrance to the avenue.
Ornate cloud motifs and golden bodhi-leaf frames in which the Queen Mother’s signature blue and initials are encased, are built in a cluster leading up to the portrait of a young Queen Sirikit.
[place b&w image of Queen Sirikit archway]
The sidewalks are considerably narrower, lined on both sides by mahogany trees.
The crowd has vanished.
Only occasional cars passed by me.
[place b&w image of building]
The government buildings are of the same style as the new Supreme Court, encountered at the beginning of the walk:
long rectangular buildings with green winged-roofs.
[place b&w image of buildings listed in order, zooming in on portraits of Rama X in each one of them]
The Agriculture and Reform Office
The Youth and Women Welfare Center
Floral arrangements on which the sign ‘Long Live the King’ figures prominently.
The Ministry of Transport
The Ministry of Tourism and Sport
A giant screen at the corner of the building shows a digital promotion of the upcoming Royal Barge Procession.
The Royal Thai Army.
A pale yellow building with a red roof, reminiscent of Neo-classical style but considerably pared down.
In front of the building is a full-size portrait of Rama X, in a gold frame, with royal and Thai flags flying on either side.
The United Nations Conference Center
A red government building, decorated with white reliefs, without a name.
The Ministry of Education
At the corner of Ratchadamnoen Nok and Phitsanulok street, a screen was set up advertising the different roles of a soldier:
a soldier is a construction worker,
a soldier is a nanny,
a soldier is a food-delivery boy, etc…
The fence surrounding the 1st Army Area was considerably low and I was able to film as I walked alongside it.
There was a football field in front of a building.
An army bus and pickup were parked in the main driveway, facing a tall white building with twin portraits of Rama X and his queen on one side and his parents, Rama IX and Queen Sirikit on the other.
The fence gave way to a wall on which is inscribed the country’s revised slogan: “Country, Religions, Monarchy and People.”
When I put down my phone, I realized that I have reached my walk’s destination.
The Dusit Palace stands in stark nudity, compared to the overly crowded Ratchadamnoen and the overly decorated Ratchadamnoen Nok.
[place b&w image of Ananta]
Its centerpoint is the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall, an epitome of absolute power in modern times.
[zoom out gradually out of b&w image of Ananta]
Built entirely out of Carrara marble, combining Renaissance, Baroque and Neo-Classical styles, the throne hall was the most costly building to have ever been constructed in its time.
The Equestrian Statue of Rama V celebrates the builder of the palace.
The plaza, once a public area, is now emptied of all occupants except for the changing of guards.
I watched the small group of white-uniformed men march in unison from one booth to another. The booth closest to me, is towered by a large screen showing videos of processions presided over by the late King Bhumbibol, Rama IX.
Dressed in an ornate golden cape, the King was carried by royal guards, in red attire and pointed yellow caps.
Decorated officials wearing white and black and gold caps, accompanied them out of what it seems to be the doors of the Grand Palace.
The guard below was facing the same direction as the screen, so in no position to be watching it.
Apart from myself, there were no other pedestrians in sight.
Before its mysterious disappearance in 2017, a small dark spot, right next to the statue of Rama V used to stand out against the whiteness of the plaza.
A bronze plaque known as The People’s Party plaque, announced “here, in the dawn of 24 June 1932, Khana Ratsadon [The People’s Party] has brought forth a constitution for the glory of the nation”.
[zoom out gradually out of b&w image of Ananta until the army tanks are visible]
On this very plaza, Phraya Phahon Phonphayuhesena, head of the military faction and leader of the People’s Party read the Announcement of the People’s Party n⁰ 1 facing the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall:
[place excerpts in English of the People's Party Announcement n⁰ 1]
ราษฎรทั้งหลายพึงรู้เถิดว่า ประเทศเรานี้เป็นของราษฎร ไม่ใช่ของกษัตริย์ตามที่เขาหลอกลวง บรรพบุรุษของราษฎรเป็นผู้ช่วยกันกู้ให้ประเทศเป็นอิสรภาพพ้นมือจากข้าศึก พวกเจ้ามีแต่ชุบมือเปิบและกวาดทรัพย์สมบัติเข้าไว้ตั้งหลายร้อยล้าน เงินเหล่านี้เอามาจากไหน? ก็เอามาจากราษฎรเพราะวิธีทำนาบนหลังคนนั้นเอง
เมื่อเราได้ยึดเงินที่พวกเจ้ารวบรวมไว้จากการทำนาบนหลังคนตั้งหลายร้อยล้านมาบำรุงประเทศขึ้นแล้ว ประเทศจะต้องเฟื่องฟูขึ้นเป็นแม่นมั่น การปกครองซึ่งคณะราษฎรจะพึงกระทำก็คือ จำต้องวางโครงการอาศัยหลักวิชา ไม่ทำไปเหมือนคนตาบอด เช่นรัฐบาลที่มีกษัตริย์เหนือกฎหมายทำมาแล้ว
ประเทศจะมีความเป็นเอกราชอย่างพร้อมบริบูรณ์ ราษฎรจะได้รับความปลอดภัย ทุกคนจะต้องมีงานทำไม่ต้องอดตาย ทุกคนจะมีสิทธิเสมอกัน และมีเสรีภาพพ้นจากการเป็นไพร่ เป็นข้า เป็นทาสพวกเจ้า หมดสมัยที่เจ้าจะทำนาบนหลังราษฎร สิ่งที่ทุกคนพึงปรารถนาคือ ความสุขความเจริญอย่างประเสริฐซึ่งเรียกเป็นศัพท์ว่า “ศรีอาริยะ” นั้น ก็จะพึงบังเกิดขึ้นแก่ราษฎรถ้วนหน้า*
[end with inserting image of People's Party crowding in front of Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall]
* translation: “You, of all the people, should know that our country belongs to the people - not to the king, as has been deceitfully claimed. It was the ancestors of the people who protected the independence of the country from enemy armies. Those of royal blood just reap what they have not sown and sweep up wealth and property worth many hundred millions. Where did all this money come from? It came from the people because of that method of farming on the backs of the people! [...]
When we have seized the money which those of royal blood amass from farming on the backs of the people, and use these many hundreds of millions on the country, the country will certainly flourish. The government which the People's Party will set up will draw up projects based on principle, and not act like a blind man as the government which has the king above the law has done. [...]
The country will have complete independence. People will have safety. Everyone must have employment and need not starve. Everyone will have equal rights and freedom from being serfs and slaves of royalty. The time has ended when those of royal blood farm on the back of the people. The things which everyone desires, the greatest happiness and progress which can be called sri-ariya, will arise for everyone.”
