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Ahkaan Rattasapha (อาคารรัฐสภา)
Thai for ‘Parliament Building’, the edifice that houses the National Assembly, i.e. the bicameral legislative branch of the government of Thailand, and which is located along the
Chao Phraya
River (fig.) in
Bangkok's
Dusit District. It
is also referred to as
Sappayasaphasathan, i.e. the ‘Sappaya Council’, with sappaya being a term that means ‘a condition that is suitable for living or carrying out various activities with good results, consisting of the four factors, known as patjai sih, and dialogue, with the former encompassing the 4 things that are absolutely necessary for human life, e.g. food, clothing, shelter, and medicine’, and which is etymologically related to the Thai word sabai, a term and concept that means a variety of things, including ‘comfortable’, ‘at ease’, and ‘happy’. The current site, sometimes translated as ‘council place for doing good deeds’, is the third meeting place of the National Assembly of Thailand, while the first one which was used between 1933 and 1974 was the
Ananta Samahkom Hall (fig.), whereas the
Parliament House of Thailand was second site, used between 1974 and 2018. With 424,000 m² of floor space the new complex is the world's largest parliament building, and features
Hong
Phra
Suriyan (ห้องพระสุริยัน) or the ‘Sun Hall’, that accommodates the House of Representatives, and
Hong Phra
Chandra (ห้องพระจันทรา) or the ‘Moon Hall’, that houses the Senate. Besides this, there is also a conference center, a seminar room, a banquet club, and offices in support of both chambers, whilst the
Thai Parliament Museum, formerly located in the
Parliament House of Thailand (fig.), was also moved under its roof. Modeled after
Mount Meru and topped with a golden
stupa, Ahkaan Rattasapha has a total height of 134.56 meter. The pinnacle is hence a symbol for the sacred golden mountain from mythology, which is the centre of the universe in both Hindu and Buddhist cosmology, from where the divine —and here
the elite— rule. Construction started on 8 June 2013 and though scheduled to be opened in 2015, work was delayed for four years and despite the fact that is in use since August 2019, parts of the building still remained unfinished at the end of 2022, due to further delays in part caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and no penalties were levied on the developer for missing the deadline. See also TRAVEL PICTURE (1) and (2), and EXPLORER'S MAP. 回
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