"MAHAKAN, PHRA SUMEN FORT"

MAHKAN, PHRA SUMEN FORT
BANGKOK, THAILAND
BANGKOK - TAJSKA
Photo and text / Foto in besedilo: Sheena Clowes

Marec - March, 2008

This page is part of the SiteO web site.

The new capital of Bangkok, situated on a bend of the Chao Phraya river, was walled and moated around 1783, by King Rama 1, as defence against attack by the Burmese, after the old capital, Ayutthaya, had been sacked. Part of city's fortification were also 14 citadels - tower forts. It is said that King Rama 1 hired over 5,000 Laotian workers to build the fortifications. All of the forts fell into disrepair and ruin; the only two which survived as semi-ruinous (Mahkan Fort and Phra Sumen Fort) and were restored in the 1980's following the discovery of old photographs which showed them as they were a century or more ago, before the roofs fell in.

Potem, ko je bila razrusena stara prestolnica Ayutthaya, je leta 1783 tajski kralj Rama I. na zavoju reke Chao Phraya ustanovil novo prestolnico Bangkok in jo za zascito pred burmanskimi napadi obdal z obzidjem in vodnim jarkom. Del mestnih utrdb je bilo tudi 14 citadel oziroma stolpnih trdnjav. Kralj Rama I. naj bi za njihovo gradnjo najel 5000 laoskih delavcev. V devetnajstem in prvi polovici dvajsetega stoletja so trdnjave propadle. Obe, ki sta se delno ohranili (Mahkan in Phra Sumen) sta bili po letu 1980 obnovljeni na podlagi najdbe stoletje starih fotografij, s katerih je bilo mogoce razbrati njihovo prvotno konstrukcijo in podobo
.

Part of the city walls
Photos and details were sent from her Asia trip by Sheena Clowes.

Deli mestnega obzidja.
Fotografije in podatke je s svojega azijskega izleta poslala Sheena Clowes.