Landmarks
Victory Monument was built by Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram to honour the 59 soldiers who died in the French-Thai War. The opening ceremony was held on 24 June 1942. It was built to the shape of five bayonets joined together and five statues around its base representing army, navy, air force, police, and civilian bureaucracy. There are 809 names inscribed below the statues, including the losses from World War II and the Korean War. It is now a major bus hub with a Bangkok Skytrain station nearby.
Baiyoke Tower (151 meters high, 43 floors) and Baiyoke Tower 2 (304 m, 85 fl) are the former and the current tallest buildings in Bangkok that cannot be missed from the skyline. They are located in proximity in the area known as Pratu Nam. (Also see Shopping section below.) The construction of Baiyoke Tower was finished in 1987 and remained the tallest until 1993. Baiyoke Tower 2 was finished in late 1997 and opened to public January 1998. Both buildings are mostly utilized as hotels Baiyoke Suite (in tower 1) and Baiyoke Sky (tower 2) with lower floors as commercial shops.
Suan Pakkad Palace is a museum exhibiting Thai antiques, from ancient to recent ones. The museum compound contains eight traditional wooden Thai houses with exhibits inside. The old Ban Chiang pottery dates back to 4,000 years ago is among one of the highlight exhibits and is located in a modern Chumbhot-Pantip gallery building.
Read more about this topic: Ratchathewi District
Famous quotes containing the word landmarks:
“Of all the bewildering things about a new country, the absence of human landmarks is one of the most depressing and disheartening.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)
“The lives of happy people are dense with their own doings—crowded, active, thick.... But the sorrowing are nomads, on a plain with few landmarks and no boundaries; sorrow’s horizons are vague and its demands are few.”
—Larry McMurtry (b. 1936)