Thread: Memory Lane (In my own language)

The name "Dusit Tanee (Thani)" is well known to Thai people (educated ones) long before someone adopted it as the name of the, then, first class hotel.




Originally, “Dusit Tanee” was the name of a miniature city and micro nation project created in the 1918 by King Wachirawut (Rama VI).




According to the name "Dusit Tanee"; "Dusit" is the name of the fourth of six levels of Buddhist heaven and "Tanee" means 'town'. So "Dusit Tanee" roughly means 'a town in heaven'.

The project was conceived while King Rama VI, who was the first Thai king to go to study abroad to pursue the intention of his father (King Rama V) and grandfather (King Rama IV) of bringing modernization to the nation, was studying in England. At the time in the nineteenth century, miniature objects became a fad, especially in England. Along with his interest in democracy and the idea to educate his people of the equality of all citizens in a democratic society hence, Dusit Tanee, a democratic model city, was materialized.

The project explored aspects of democracy and members of the court were to be "citizens" owning properties in the model city.

Craftsmen were hired by noble families in Bangkok in order to reconstruct their houses in this miniature city. They had to register and buy land to become citizens in this ideal city. They could freely express and participate in debating public affairs in the city.

Two political groups were founded in Dusit Tanee, the Blue Party and the Red Party. King Rama VI himself also adopted the name "Mr. Rama" to participate in the city.

Elections were held, a constitution written, and two newspapers regularly published for the fictional city.

At first, Dusit Park, near the present Congress Building, which was a rice field before was chosen as the site for the miniature model city. The area measured 1 acre.

Up to 300 buildings inside Dusit Tanee were scaled to one-fifteenth (some say one-twentieth) life size. Palace, hotel, houses, hospital, school, theater, a clock tower, a fire brigade, a bank, a wat, shops, military barracks, roads, parks and everything a good city should contain were represented in the city.

Later on, growing so fast, Dusit Tanee was relocated to Payatai field which provided more space.

However, the project of the King was so new, so unfamiliar and hard for his people to comprehend. They all thought what's going on with the King's mind.

Anyway, while the critics dismissed the project as nothing more than the king playing with dollhouses, others regarded it as the first trial of a constitutional government in Siam.

In the end, the project was a failure. It was rejected because the country was not ready for democracy and if the city was actually built, the constitution would be used only in the city but not nationwide.

In 1925, the King died which caused a halt to the miniature city project and the real city was never actually built. There, however, were some attempts by Siamese students, who were educated in Europe and had been interested in democracy and modernization, to carry on the ideal of democracy.

Seven years after the king's death (now, the reign of his younger brother King Rama VII), a revolution occurred. A new government and a constitutional monarchy replaced 700 years of absolute monarchy.

Anyway though an inspiration, the fate of Dusit Tanee had a different path. The model city was poorly preserved after the king's death and had never been repaired. They had all been scattered here and there. Luckily that 14 buildings survived and are displayed at the National Library.












(News paper published within Dusit Tanee)


(What's left of Dusit tanee today)