Suan Pakkad Palace

Wang Suan Pakkad or Suan Pakkad Palace ( Thai: วัง สวน ผัก กาด, literally: Vegetable Garden Palace ) is a museum in Bangkok, capital of Thailand. It lies on the Sri Ayutthaya Road in Ratchathewi district, south of the victory monument.

It is the first museum in Thailand, have decided its owner, Prince and Princess of Nagara Svarga Chumbhot to put their private residence to the public as a museum. It was opened in 1952.

The museum consists of several buildings that are built in traditional Thai style. They contain the antiques collection of the Prince and Princess, who were already partly for generations in the family. Among traditional paintings on canvas and on wood, Buddha statues, antique furniture, a collection of Khon masks and even some objects from the Ban Chiang - time.

The lacquer pavilion

History

However, the highlight of the museum is the " paint Pavilion". This unique building was discovered in 1958 by the Prince and Princess Chumbhot. It was at that time in Wat Ban Kling, a Buddhist temple ( wat ) on the banks of the Chao Phraya River between Ayutthaya and Bang Pa In. The exact age could not be determined yet, but it seems certain that this building was initially part of the royal residence in Ayutthaya. Only later it was taken apart and reassembled in Wat Ban Kling. It was originally two individual buildings, one was a Hor Trai, a library, the other a Hor Khian, a room with wall paintings. The Hor Trai had surrounded a single room by an open gallery, it was built to protect against flooding on high stilts. The Hor Khian was a slightly larger pavilion, which had walls only on three sides. In the 1940s, the Hor Khian the decay was near. Faithful from the surrounding villages therefore took both buildings apart, restored the items as best they could, and then built it into a single building: a Hor Trai with a space in the middle, surrounded by a narrow passage.

Renovation

As the royal couple discovered this building, on the walls were still heavily weathered traces of black gold lacquer painting ( Thai: Lai Rot Nam, ลาย รดน้ำ, literally drawing with water washed ) to discover. With the permission of the abbot of Wat Ban Kling they were after they had built a new pavilion and pier on the river, the pavilion at her residence in Bangkok undergo a thorough renovation. These were two well-known artists and craftsmen, Mr. Sawang Panya - Ngam and Mr. Udom Chuvanond commissioned to revive the wonderful gold lacquer paintings again. On March 8, 1959, the restored pavilion was opened in the presence of believers joyfully surprised by Wat Ban Kling.

Determination of the age

Looking at details of the paintings, the vestments of the imaged French and Dutch as well as the clothes of the Thai nobles, can the origin in the time of King Narai date. Even some of the mythological figures of the wood carvings on the railing of the gallery, which consist partly of animal and partly human elements, are examples of how they were popular in the time of King Narai. Furthermore, the quality of the original work suggests that the buildings were built on the orders of a king. If they came to the Rattanakosin period, the pavilion is not in Wat Ban Kling but in Thonburi or Bangkok would have been built. It is therefore likely that they have been brought in Ayutthaya to the Burmese invasion time in the 18th century to safety.