The story of Grand Palace

Behind these high whitewashed walls lies a city within a city. Construction of the Grand Palace began on 6 May 1782, when King Rama I, founder of the Chakri dynasty, moved the capital from Thonburi across the river to Bangkok. Short on funds, the first palace was built entirely of wood, surrounded by a simple log palisade.

On 10 June 1782 the king ceremonially crossed the river to live here. Later, to replace the wood with masonry, his men went upstream to the old capital Ayutthaya, destroyed in 1767, and took bricks from its forts, walls and palaces, while leaving its temples untouched. The bricks were ferried down the Chao Phraya on barges.

The palace is not one building but many halls and pavilions set around lawns and courtyards, divided into the Outer, Middle and Inner Courts and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Kings lived and governed here until 1925, and it is still used for royal ceremonies.