Mrigadayavan Palace

Mrigadayavan Palace.Situated in Cha Am in the province of Phetchaburi (City of Diamonds), Thailand, Mrigadayavan Palace was a seaside palace of His Majesty King Vajiravudh or King Rama VI who ruled Siam from 1910 to 1925. King Vajiravudh visited the palace twice during his reign. His first visit was made during the summer of 1924 for three months, while his second visit lasted two months during the summer of 1925, after which His Majesty died. The palace is now a property of the Crown Property Bureau and is under the management of The Foundation of Mrigadayavan Palace under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Bejaratana (FMP), the only daughter of King Vajiravudh.HistoryThe palace was commissioned by King Vajiravudh to serve as a holiday villa. The king drafted the designs for the villa, which consists of sixteen teak buildings raised by concrete pillars and linked together by a series of walkways. Construction took place during 1923–24, and was overseen by Italian architect Ercole Manfredi.Around the year since 1917, because King Vajiravudh had suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, his personal physician, Phraya Phaet Phongsavisuttatibhadi suggesed that he take a sojourn in a warm and airy seaside climate. Mrigadayavan Palace was thus constructed in 1923. At first, there were three choices of sites for building the summer palace. The first one was in Hua Hin district, Prachuapkirikhan province, which was already a popular beach destination at that time. However, since the customary law prohibited the general public from entering areas where the King resided, King Vajiravudh decided to avoid troubling his people and considered alternative locations for his summer palace. His Majesty subsequently commanded the Royal Thai Navy to survey for the appropriate sites. The beach at Bang Thalu district of Cha Am in Phetchaburi was the first choice of selection. This leads to the construction of the summer palace in 1917 at Bang Thalu district. The adjoining beach area was renamed as Chao Samran beach, which means “ the Beach of Joy”.