Designed for a divinity
The architect of the Royal Crematorium talks about his inspirations for the elaborate structure
HIS MAGNIFICENT Phra Merumas, the royal
crematorium, is almost complete but artist Kokiart Thongphud is not
counting the days until it comes into use.
“While I know that this is the most magnificent and majestic structure I
have ever designed, I am neither glad nor proud to see it become a
reality. My heart is crying and I don’t want October 26 to come – the
day when I will send my beloved King back to heaven,” says the
49-year-old artist with the Fine Arts Department, who started work on
designing the crematorium only hours after His Majesty the late King
Bhumibol Adulyadej passed away on October 13 last year.
Like all Thais, Kokiart did not let his grief and suffering keep him
from his work. The elaborate royal crematorium for King Bhumibol is the
tallest of any such structures since the reign of King Rama V.
“My respected master Prince Naris – Prince Narisara Nuvadtivongs,
considered the great master of Siamese art – once said that the highest
and widest structure of Phra Merumas signified the greatest dignity. My
first design had the structure standing 80 metres high on a
120-metre-wide base, but it was too large for Sanam Luang as it is
today. I eventually had to settle on a practical structure 55.18 metres
high and 60 metres wide,” says Kokiart, who was the right-hand man of
the celebrated late architect Arwut Ngernchuklin, designer of the royal
crematoria for HRH the Princess Mother, HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana and
Princess Bejaratana Rajasuda in 1996, 2008 and 2012 respectively.
Kokiart prepared five draft designs of the royal crematorium in the
busabok style in line with the structures sketched by the old masters
since the reign of King Rama V. These showed elaborate pavilions with
ornately decorated tiered roofs topped by one, five and nine spires
respectively. The five drafts along with other artists’ sketches were
presented to Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, the
president of the Royal Funeral Committee, and the Princess selected his
design featuring nine pavilions, each standing independently of the
others.
The royal crematorium comprises nine busabok-style pavilions sitting
on a three-tiered, square shaped base with a staircase on each of the
four sides. On the topmost tier is the seven-tiered, spire-roofed
principle pavilion, which will house the royal urn, while each of the
four corners on the second tier have five-tiered, roofed pavilions
called sang, which will be used by monks to chant scriptures during the
ceremony. The remaining four pavilions are located at each of the four
corners on the first tier.
Kokiart also marks the centre of the royal crematorium from where two
axes intersect – one from the spire of the Phra Si Ratana Chedi pagoda
in the adjacent Wat Phra Kaew and the other from the middle of the phra
ubosot or ordination hall in the nearby Wat Maha That.
