Thung Phaya Thai


Thung Phaya Thai is a khwaeng of Ratchathewi District, downtown Bangkok.

History

This area, formerly known as "Thung Phaya Thai", was once a vast open field within the inner capital. It stretched from the outskirts of Dusit Palace, adjacent to Thung Som Poi, to what are today the Victory Monument and Phaya Thai Palace. Beyond this lay "Thung Bang Kapi", covering what are now Bang Kapi, Wang Thonglang and Huai Khwang districts.
Although it lay within the city, in the past the atmosphere was that of rural countryside, with fresh, unpolluted air. Khlong Phaya Thai, a canal approximately two km in length, flowed through the area.
King Chulalongkorn therefore purchased more than a thousand rai of land here. In 1910, he ordered the construction of Phaya Thai Palace along the banks of Khlong Samsen, and also commissioned the building of a road connecting Hua Lamphong Nok Road, passing Pathum Wan Road, running parallel to Pra Chae Chin Road, crossing the Eastern Railway Line and Duang Tawan Road, and ending at Pao Road. This new road was named "Phaya Thai Road".
The king and his wife, Queen Saovabha Phongsri, used the palace as a royal retreat, and the king also experimented with agricultural cultivation there.
In those days, the palace grounds also served as the venue for the Royal Ploughing Ceremony, an ancient rite held to bless and encourage farmers at the start of the planting season. After King Chulalongkorn's death in 1910, Queen Saovabha Phongsri resided here until her death in 1919.
The area was also home to a Muslim community.
Today, although the open fields have long since vanished and Khlong Phaya Thai has been largely filled in to make way for road construction remaining only as a small waterway within Phramongkutklao Hospital, the name "Thung Phaya Thai" endures, the name "Thung Phaya Thai" endures. Due to successive reorganisations of Bangkok's administrative boundaries, Thung Phaya Thai now forms part of Ratchathewi District.

Geography

The area is bordered by neighbouring subdistricts : Phaya Thai and, Sam Sen Nai in Phaya Thai District, Makkasan, and Thanon Phetchaburi in its district, Suan Chitlada in Dusit District.

Places

file:ร้านกาแฟนรสิงห์ วังพญาไท.jpg|thumb|250px|Café de Norasingha, café within Phaya Thai Palace
[file:(2019) อนุสาวรีย์ชัยสมรภูมิ เขตราชเทวี กรุงเทพมหานคร (2).jpg|thumb|250px|Victory Monument]