The Grand Palace

Today we are tourists. After breakfast we went by cab to the Grand Palace and walked around for hours. I took around 80 photo's, I think I may need to edit a few of them.

The Grand Palace complex was established in 1782 and it consists of not only royal and throne halls, but also a number of government offices as well as the renowned Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It covers an area of 218,000 square metres and is surrounded by four walls, 1900 metres in length. After King Rama I ascended to the throne in 1782, the palace was built. Prior to this, the royal palace and centre of administration had been located in Thonburi, on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River. For various reasons, the new King considered the former capital to be unsuitable and decided to establish a new capital on the other side of the river.

The artwork around the complex is very pretty and lots and lots of gold.

We also went into Queen Sirikit Textile Museum which was very interesting.

In 2003, Her Majesty Queen Sirikit requested permission to use a then vacant building on the grounds of the Grand Palace to house a new museum of textiles. The Building, erected in 1870 by King Rama V and formerly the Ministry of Finance, was graciously granted for this purpose by His Late Majesty, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

This Italianate office building had previously served as the Ministry of Finance and the Office of Royal Ceremony. For its reinvention as a museum it underwent a top to bottom renovation that transformed it into a state of the art facility boasting new visitor reception areas, galleries, storage, an education studio, library, lecture hall, and Thailand’s first dedicated textile conservation laboratory.

Whilst there I had a go at designing my own Batik fabric pattern.Read more