Publication: King Mongkut's political and religious ideologies through architecture at Phra Kakhon Kiri.
Issued Date
2007
Resource Type
Language
eng
Rights
Mahidol University
Rights Holder(s)
Chulalongkorn University
Bibliographic Citation
Journal of Humanites. Vol. 10, No. 1 (2007), 72-88
Suggested Citation
Sompong Amnuay-ngerntra. King Mongkut's political and religious ideologies through architecture at Phra Kakhon Kiri.. Journal of Humanites. Vol. 10, No. 1 (2007), 72-88. Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/9897
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Thesis
Title
King Mongkut's political and religious ideologies through architecture at Phra Kakhon Kiri.
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Other Contributor(s)
Abstract
This research investigates King Mongkut's visions of modernity as expressed
through the medium of Phra Nakhon Kiri in Phetchaburi. King Mongkut used
hierarchically traditional architecture as a means of bolstering national pride and
legitimising claims to the right of kingship. Simultaneously, a political position
of Siam as a modern state was manifested through the European-Sino-Siamese
hybrid architectural styles in the mid-nineteenth century. In addition, the bellshaped
pagoda style within the site complex reflected his religious reform
directed at upgrading monastic practices and purifying the canon. His reformed
Buddhist sect, Thammayut, is characterised as rational, intellectual, and
humanistic. Such religious reform was integrated with scientific knowledge,
which he had learned during his contact with the Christian missionaries as a
monk and later as the king.