#  >  > Thailand Festivals, Beaches, Scuba Diving and Temples, Tell us Your Tales >  >  > Thailands Wats Temples and Mosques >  >  The Bangkok Catholic Church Santa Cruz

## dirtydog

Jesus, Joeseph and Mary, they got those Catholic buggers in Bangkok  aswell, next to the Santa Cruz Church they also have a Catholic school  preparing the next generation of Catholics to send amongst us.

Actually there are quite afew farang orientated churches in Bangkok  including the Holy Rosary Church, Immaculate Conception Church and  Assumption Cathedral which are all pretty famous and pretty damn old.

Getting to Santa Cruz Church is easy, either River boat on the Chao Phraya to Memorial Bridge Pier, or make your way to Memorial Bridge and you will see it on the Thonburi  side of the river. Remember, the river boats are cheap as chips and no  traffic jams as on the roads with taxis, or rip offs as in on the road  with tuk tuks.



I do have to admit though that the architecture does make a nice change  to the usual Thai buildings, I mean this building actually looks nice  and seems to have been looked after, ie painted and stuff on a regular  basis, just wish the natives could do that with there own buildings, a  bit of civic pride could go a long way in Thailand, never happen though,  just have to keep looking for nice farang areas if you want some where  nice.



The gardens look nice, then again us Euro trash are reknwned for our  gardens, we do like them to look nice, they aren't our local rubbish tip  and dog poo areas.

Is that you Jesus hiding in them bushes?



Not sure about the fake storks, think a Thai sneaked them in, or maybe someone who used to have gnomes?

Whose the bird then? Thought you wern't into that sex stuff, at least with adult women anyway.



Jesus don't look too happy in this one.

If your gonna be here for a while I'll make you a nice cuppa, must be hot out there in that sun.



Mary The Virgin is it? God never did get round to explaining about the  birds and the bees to you Jesus did he, anyway your learning of this  subject is down to your parents, I'm not getting involved.



See you have one of those sheep catchers staffs, God always did like a  laugh and a joke. I assume he hasn't told you yet then Jesus  :Smile:  A Welsh God indeed.



Santa Cruz Church (Wat Kudichin), 

112 Tesaban 1 Rd (Memorial Bridge Pier),
 ☎ +66 2 466-0347. 

The  Santa Cruz Church is an interesting Catholic church right at the banks  of the Chao Phraya River. 

After the fall of Ayutthaya by a Burmese  invasion, King Taksin  commanded that the peoples who escaped had to  settle down in Thonburi,  the new capital of Siam. 

The King dictated that  the Chinese group had to settle down around the  area of Wat  Kalayanamit, while the Portuguese people would have their  houses built  along the bank of the Chao Phraya River. 

The Portuguese had given  military support to King Taksin to help him drive out the Burmese from  Siam. 

In recognition of their support, King Taksin granted the  Portuguese a plot of land for the building of a church. 

The first Santa  Cruz Church was a wooden church built in 1770. 

When that church got into  a state of decay, a new Chinese-style church  was built here, as it was  nearby the Chinese community that stayed at  Wat Kalayanamit. 

That church  was called "Kudichin church" (Chinese church), and the  Portuguese who  settled here were called "Farang Kudichin", which means  "Westerners at  the Chinese shrine". 

In 1916, the third and current Santa Cruz Church  was built during the reign of King Rama IV. 

The church has a magnificent  Italian-style architecture. The community  around it still feels  authentic, and is the birthplace of a famous kind  of cupcake, the  "Khanom Farang Kudichin".

Also the Portugese introduced these pink coloured rose flower type sweets/cakes/desserts called khanom ar-lua, which are made from flour with a hard sugary coating, these are still available to this day.



For a bit of variation here is a photo of Bangkoks Holy Rosary Church, quite smart looking isn't it, makes a change from red and gold coloured religious buildings.



Credit to extras for that photo.

Looking for the largest Cathedral inThailand? Then its out of Bangkok you want to go and down to Chanthaburi to see The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Catholic Church Chanthaburi)



Credit to Bangyai for the above photo.

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## MANICHAEAN

Good pictures. Infantile comments.

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## dirtydog

> Infantile comments.


How else would you comment on one of the longest running scams and fairy tales that we have ever seen, maybe take it seriously? You want some loaves of bread with those 2 fish for yourself and 2,000 friends? And no, they can't all come in the house.

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## Looper

Nice photos DD. Looks like a nice clear day for Bangkok.

My flipper girl worked at Santa Cruz for 6 months when she first came to Thailand, before she got the hotel reception gig in Patong. I hope Jesus will forgive her sins and save her soul.

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## Bangyai

Nice pictures DD. Never got around to visiting any of the churches in Bangkok so this is a nice reminder that there's always something to see that you might not have seen before.

Mind you, you seem to have gone all religious on us lately what with temples and churches. Have you seen the light or are you just hedging your bets before getting back to hum drum dissipation ?  :Smile:

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## Loy Toy

Nice thread Dawg.

I've been to a number of weddings and Christenings at the OP church over the years. Lovely church sitting on some prime real estate. 

Did you drop 20 baht in the charity box?  :Smile:

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## steevee

Anyone know of other locations of stained glass windows? I'm a glass artist in Chiang Mai, I'd like to document some stained glass in Thailand.

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## VocalNeal

Must be some somewhere as there is a shop on the corner of Rama 4 and the expressway off ramp.

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## Necron99

My niece goes to that school.
It's a very interesting area, there is a riverside footpath /bikepath running from Wat Arun to the Portuguese area. Branching off from this are lots of footpath sized Sois (they are official Sois), most of the houses have no road access. Access to some of the sois is seemingly through peoples houses or yards.. 
In the sois there are little bakeries that make Portuguese cakes, some claiming to be in operation for 200 years (they look like it).

In between there and Wat Arun is an old wooden Chinese temple, fascinating detail.
There are also some very very old houses with interesting designs or features. The house below was probably the talk of the town when it was new.

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## MANICHAEAN

Incredible old places. Such detail!
Thanks for the images.

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## Phrakhanong

@Steevee,
There's also the Anglican Christ Church on Soi Convent (between Silom Road and Sathorn). They have some nice stained glass windows, although the outside of the church isn't anything as exciting as Santa Cruz.

For anyone that visits Christ Church, have a look at some of the plaques on the walls. One that caught my interest was that Louis Leonowens (son of Anna Leonowens... from the book the Governess at the Court of Siam, the King and I etc) was one of the early congregation members.

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## Frawley

"Is that you Jesus hiding in them bushes?"



It's Francis of Assisi, hence the birds.

Nice photo tour. Thx.

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## cdnski12

I have noticed that most of the Christian Areas look much cleaner and more organized than the usual Thai hap-hazard mess. I'm not criticizing, only observing. Ditto for most Chinese Areas.

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