SUAN PAKKAD PALACE

Description

Essentials about Suan Pakkad Palace in brief

Anyone who is enthusiastic about Thai and Asian art should visit the Wang Suan Pakkad or Suan Pakkad Palace (Vegetable Garden Palace), for it is an exhibition venue as interesting as it is relaxing in the middle of Bangkok, just south of the Victory Monument in the Ratchathewi district. The palace consists of five traditional teak houses, where you can admire an extensive collection of art objects and antiques from Asia. Surrounding the Suan Pakkad Palace is a beautiful park.

Suan Pakkad Palace as a museum

Suan Pakkad Palace is the first museum in Thailand whose owners, Prince and Princess Chumbhot of Nagara Svarga, decided to make their private residence available to the public as a museum. It was opened in 1952. Incidentally, the somewhat strange name is due to the fact that the traditional Thai houses were once part of a vegetable farm.

The museum displays the antique collection of the prince and princess, some of which had been in the family for generations. Among them are traditional paintings on cloth and on wood, Buddha statues, antique furniture, ivory and mother-of-pearl containers, musical instruments, a collection of khon masks and even some items from the Ban Chiang period.

The garden of Suan Pakkad Palace

The wonderful garden houses the highlight of the museum, the “Lacquer Pavilion” built on stilts. This unique building was discovered in 1958 by Prince and Princess Chumbhot. At that time it was located in Wat Ban Kling, a Buddhist temple on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. The exact age has not yet been determined, but it seems certain that this building was initially part of the royal residence in Ayutthaya. Only later was it dismantled and reassembled at Wat Ban Kling. It was originally two separate buildings, but they were combined into one during a restoration. In the pavilion inspire both black and golden wooden panels, which depict not only Hindu gods, but also Buddha.