Wat Arun in “King The Land”
The iconic Korean drama series “King The Land” has reopened the tourism dimension of Wat Arun once again. It gained significant popularity in the year 2023. Directed by Im Hyun-ook, this romantic comedy revolves around the love story of Koo Won, the heir of a chaebol family who owns and manages King Group. He struggles to tolerate the false smiles around him and encounters Cheon Sa-rang, a lobby staff member at the King Hotel, who always greets others with a bright smile, even when she doesn’t feel like it due to the nature of her job requiring her to remain cheerful. Both characters are on a quest to find genuine happiness that allows them to smile from the heart.
A prominent scene in the series takes place at Wat Arun Ratchawararam, where the lead characters and their friends travel to admire the beauty of the architecture. The series showcases the prang of Wat Arun, which serves as a symbol of Thailand’s tourism and an iconic landmark of the country.
Films Related to the Prang of Wat Arun
This documentary film on the restoration of the prang of Wat Arun Ratchawararam was produced by the Fine Arts Department. It is a 16 mm black-and-white silent film lasting 14 minutes, documenting one of the largest restoration efforts of Wat Arun during the reign of King Rama IX from 1968 to 1972, particularly focusing on the prang. The book “History of Wat Arun Ratchawararam” (1978) states that in February 1966, Somdet Phutthacharn (Wan Thitiyano) wrote a letter to General Thanom Kittikachorn, the Prime Minister, requesting government support for the restoration of the ancient monument, which was in a severely dilapidated condition. The Fine Arts Department, therefore, initiated a restoration project for the prang of Wat Arun with a budget of approximately 15 million baht, dividing the work into four phases, which took a total of five years. Subsequently, they proposed the establishment of a committee to consider the restoration plan and held a ceremonial ritual before starting the restoration of the prang on December 27, 1967.
Image: A portion of the documentary film on the restoration of ancient monuments (Source: Film Archive (Public Organization))The images featured in the documentary start with an aerial view from scaffolding around the prang, overlooking the river towards the Tha Tien market and Wat Pho (Wat Phra Chetuphon). Then, it transitions to images of the same riverbank, featuring the Thawisak School building, the crowned archway leading to the ubosot, and two well-known giants. The scene then shows 01) a wide shot of the prang surrounded by scaffolding up to nearly the top of the main prang, the base of the prang adorned with (armoured) giants supporting it, and a close-up of the (unarmored) heavenly beings from the subsidiary prang. Later, it depicts workers preparing to inject grout (a special mixed cement that can effectively fill gaps and provide high compressive strength) into pre-drilled holes to strengthen the foundation. 04) The craftsmen are shown drawing designs on ceramic tiles, then cutting them with an adapted grinding machine secured to the base before 02) replacing the original tiles on the crown of the Narayana statue decorated with a swan, located at the belt of the prang. Following that, images of 05) craftsmen cleaning the prang show various parts of the structure that have been damaged or lost, including the swan’s tail and the trunk of the elephant from the depiction of Indra riding the Erawan elephant. The craftsmen used sculpting methods to replace these and affixed tiles to closely match the originals. The film concludes with footage of the ascent and descent from the ground to the scaffolding around the prang, which rises several dozen meters high, utilizing a pulley system to lift both people and materials for the work.
