Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c44.23

c44.23

With the establishment of the capital at Bangkok in 1782, shortly after the destruction of Ayudhya, Siam entered on its modern phase of the Tai period, when the arts of all kinds received encouragement from the throne Many important buildings have been erected in Bangkok within the last century, comprising palaces, temples, stupas and shrines, which although they maintain the general character of the historical examples, such as the p'ra-jedi and the p'ra-prang, it has become the custom to overlay these traditional forms with so much ornamentation that the simple dignity of the originals is obscured by a superfluity of mouldings and stringcourses, rich in themselves, but made more so by each being embellished with lesser patterns until the whole presents an appearance of meretriciousness significant of a decline in taste. Steps are being taken to correct this departure from true expressive architecture, so as to bring back the art more into proper relation with the simpler understanding of the people