Dusit Palace

  Built between 1897 and 1901 by King Chulalongkon, the Dusit Palace ("Celestrial Dwelling") is a huge compound of 13 different royal residences encompassing 696,950 square feet. The official royal residence, The Grand Palace, became too crowded and stifling in the summer heat, so the king got the idea to build a new royal residence with spacious gardens on the outskirts of the capital. The different residence halls and gardens were allocated to the various consorts and children of the King. As with all Thai royal palaces, the Dusit Palace was divided into three areas; the outer, middle, and inner courts, separated by canals and gardens rather than walls. In 1932 the absolute monarchy was abolished and part of the Dusit Palace was reduced in size and transferred to the constitutional government. Currently, the various buildings house several museums and exhibitions.

The main palace building.

The Vimanmek mansion was renovated in 1982 by Queen Sirikit into a showcase of Thai national heritage and became the world's largest golden teakwood mansion.

...and this is the small dinning room.

The king used this room as a work area.

Oh, to have a house that we could have this staircase in.

On the other hand, we could have a parade up and down this staircase.

This Chinese pavilion is decorated exquisitely.

One of the "small" residences on the grounds that originally was used by one of the princesses as her house.

The gardens around the grounds are beautiful.