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Phra Sumen Fort

Keywords : Phra Sumen Fort , Phra Athit Road, Mahakan Fort

Site common namePhra Athit Road
Type of artworkArchitecture
Sub districtChana Songkhram
DistrictKhet Phra Nakhon
ProvinceBangkok
RegionCentral
CountryThailand
Geographic Coordinates
Decimal degree
Lat : 13.763988
Long : 100.495756
Geographic Coordinates
UTM
Zone : 47 P
Hemisphere : N
E : 661708.36
N : 1522125.99
Place of artworkOn Phra Athit Road on a bank of the Chao Phraya River

History of production

Phra Sumen Fort was built in 1783 during the reign of King Rama I as one of the 14 fortresses built in order to protect the city. At present, only Phra Sumen Fort and Mahakan Fort remain. King Rama I ordered to construct royal residences near the important forts. Next to Phra Sumen Fort, there is a royal residence belonging to Somdet Chaofa La, the King’s brother who had a duty to defend the area around the mouth of Banglamphu Canal, in the North of the city; while a palace was built near Chakpet Fort for Chaofa Tan who protected the southern area of the city.

Production process

Masonry

Conservation

On the occasion of Bangkok’s bicentennial celebration in 1981, the Fine Arts Department Thailand restored the fort by consulting the fort’s pictures dated to the reign of King Rama V. The Fine Arts Department Thailand registered Phra Sumen Fort and its walls as an important archaeological site of Thailand according to an announcement published in the Royal Thai Government Gazette Volume 66, Section 64, dated the 22nd November 1949.

Art

Phra Sumen Fort is an octagonal building built with brick and stucco which faces Banglamphu Canal. The fort with a double wall has 3 step gateways, merlons and crenels.

The outer wall is separated from the inner wall by a wall with pointed boundary markers on top. There is

A door to the front of the fort. The front part of the outer wall has large rectangular merlons with small cross-shaped holes.

The inner wall has a step gateway at the back side, and pointed boundary markers are on top of the inner wall and 4 pointed arches are cut through below on each side. The inner ward is divided into rooms for keeping black-powder ammunition and weapons, while the upper part of the inner wall is the battle tower.
Key academic information

During the foundation of Bangkok, King Rama I ordered to build 14 fortress to protect the city; but only 2 of them remain, namely Phra Sumen Fort and Mahakan Fort. The former is located on a corner of Athit Road where it connects to Phra Sumen Road, on a bank of the Chao Phraya River around the mouth of Banglamphu Canal or the North of Rop Krung Canal on the outer Rattanakosin Island. Phra Sumen Fort is one of the ancient fortresses which shows architectural features of fortresses of early Rattankosin period.

Notice

The foundations of the fort and wall are 2 m. below ground level, the width from north to south is 45 m., the height from the ground to the top of the battlements is 10.5 m., and the height from the fort’s floor to the top of the roof is 18.9 m.

PeriodHistorical Period
Art periodRattanakosin
Age24th Buddhist century
Related artwork

Mahakan Fort

Type of LicenseAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)
RightsPrincess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre
Date of record creation2016-06-01
Record creatorPatsaweesiri Premkulanan
Bibliography

เทพชู ทับทอง. กรุงรัตนโกสินทร์เมื่อ 200 ปี. กรุงเทพฯ : เทพพิทักษ์การพิมพ์, 2524.

ศูนย์ข้อมูลเมืองโบราณ. "ป้อมพระสุเมรุ : การขุดตรวจใน พ.ศ. 2542 ". เมืองโบราณ. 28 : 1 (ม.ค. - มี.ค. 2545), หน้า 128-129.

สมเกียรติ วัฒนะศักดิ์ประภา และคณะ. ป้อม คู ประตูเมือง ในกรุงรัตนโกสินทร์. กรุงเทพฯ : สุวีริยาสาส์น, 2543.