Chaloem La 56 Bridge

Chaloem La 56 Bridge

สะพานเฉลิมหล้า ๕๖
Chaloem La 56 Bridge; สะพานเฉลิมหล้า ๕๖
	Chaloem La 56 Bridge Today
Coordinates	13°44′57″N 100°31′52″E / 13.74917°N 100.53111°E
Carries	Phaya Thai Road
Crosses	Khlong Saen Saep
Locale	Thanon Phetchaburi Sub-district, Ratchathewi District and Wang Mai Sub-district, Pathum Wan District
Official name	Chaloem La 56 Bridge
Other name(s)	Saphan Hua Chang (Elephant's Head Bridge)
Maintained by	Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA)
History
Opened	November 15, 1909
Location

Chaloem La 56 Bridge (Template:Lang-th) or popularly known as Hua Chang Bridge (สะพานหัวช้าง; lit: elephant's head bridge). It's a bridge in Bangkok's Thanon Phetchaburi sub-district, Ratchathewi district and Wang Mai sub-district, Pathum Wan district, it across Khlong Saen Saep (Saen Saep canal) on Phaya Thai road. The place adjacent to the bridge-foot in Pathum Wan side is Sa Pathum Palace (วังสระปทุม), which was once the palace of Queen Savang Vadhana, who was King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX)'s grandmother and Maha Vajiralongkorn (Rama X)'s great-grandmother. Currently is the resident of Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

Chaloem La 56 Bridge was built to celebrate the 56th birthday of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), launched on November 15, 1909. It's the 15th bridge in the Chaloem bridge series, which has a total of 17 bridges. All of them are bridges that were created to celebrate King Chulalongkorn's occasion birthday anniversary each year. They were built to cross the canal at various points in Bangkok. Chaloem La 56 Bridge is featured the four white elephant head sculpture around the pillar at four corners of the bridge, which refers to King Phutthaloetla Naphalai (Rama II), the grandfather of King Chulalongkorn. Due to him being the same age as his grandfather was in the year the bridge was built.

Currently, Chaloem La 56 Bridge is considered one of the three remaining bridges of the Chaloem bridge series. The other two are Chaloem Phan 53 Bridge in Bang Rak and Sathon districts with Chaloem Lok 55 Bridge nearby. On March 18, 1975 it was registered as one of the ancient monuments of Bangkok.^[1] ^[2] ^[3]

Nearby places

Chaloem Lok 55 Bridge - counterpart bridge
Sa Pathum Palace
Pathum Wan Intersection and Bangkok Art and Culture Centre with MBK Center
Ban Krua - Thai silk Muslim community
Ratchathewi Intersection
Ratchathewi station
National Stadium BTS station and National Stadium
Chalerm La Park - small public park with chic graffiti

References

^ Chotchuang, Burapha (2014-06-22). "สะพานชุดเฉลิมในรัชกาลที่ 5" [Chaloem bridge series in the reign of Rama V]. Siamrath (in Thai). Archived from the original on 2018-04-16. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
^ "อยากรู้ไหมสะพานหัวช้างมีช้างกี่เชือก?" [Want to know how many elephant heads of the Hua Chang Bridge?]. Matichon (in Thai). 2015-10-10. Archived from the original on 2018-04-16. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
^ "รายงานการศึกษาโบราณสถานที่ขึ้นทะเบียนในกรุงเทพมหานคร ปี พ.ศ.๒๕๕๔" [Report of the study of ancient sites registered in Bangkok 2011] (PDF). BMA (in Thai).

[1] Chotchuang, Burapha (2014-06-22). "สะพานชุดเฉลิมในรัชกาลที่ 5" [Chaloem bridge series in the reign of Rama V]. Siamrath (in Thai). Archived from the original on 2018-04-16. Retrieved 2018-04-17.

[2] "อยากรู้ไหมสะพานหัวช้างมีช้างกี่เชือก?" [Want to know how many elephant heads of the Hua Chang Bridge?]. Matichon (in Thai). 2015-10-10. Archived from the original on 2018-04-16. Retrieved 2018-04-17.

[3] "รายงานการศึกษาโบราณสถานที่ขึ้นทะเบียนในกรุงเทพมหานคร ปี พ.ศ.๒๕๕๔" [Report of the study of ancient sites registered in Bangkok 2011] (PDF). BMA (in Thai).

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