Lak Mueang
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A Lak Mueang (Thai: หลักเมือง) or City pillar is found in most cities of Thailand. Usually housed in a shrine which is also believed to house the city spirit deity, Chao Pho Lak Meuang (Thai: เจ้าพ่อหลักเมือง), it is held in high esteem by the citizen of the town.
It was probably King Rama I, who erected the first city pillar on April 21, 1782, when he moved his capital from Thonburi to Bangkok. The shrine was actually the first building of his new capital, the Palace and other buildings were created later.
Shortly after the shrine in Bangkok, similar shrines were built in strategical provinces to symbolize the central power, such as in Songkhla. Further shrines were created during the reign of King Buddha Loetla Nabhalai (Rama II) in Nakhon Khuen Khan and Samut Prakan, and by King Nangklao (Rama III) in Chachoengsao, Chanthaburi and Battambang (now Cambodia). However after King Mongkut raised a new pillar in Bangkok no further shrines in the provinces were built.
In 1944 prime minister Phibul Songkhram had a city pillar built in Phetchabun, as he intended to move the capital to this town. Though this plan failed to get approval by the parliament, the idea of city pillars caught on and in the following years several provincial towns built new shrines. In 1992, the Interior Ministry issued an order that every province now should have such a shrine.
The building style of the shrines varies. Especially in provinces with a significant Thai Chinese influence, the city pillar may be housed in a shrine that resembles a Chinese temple; as, for example in Songkhla, Samut Prakan and Yasothon.
Chiang Rai's City Pillar is not housed in a shrine at all; but, since 1988, is in an open place inside Wat Phra That Doi Chom Thong; it is called the Sadu Meuang (TH: สะดือเมือง), Navel or Omphalos of the City.
The provincial administration city of Surat Thani directly at the shore of the Tapi River in World War II, but when the Japanese invaded Thailand on December 8, 1941 and landed in Surat Thani as well, the building caught fire during the short battle and burned down. It was reopened in 1954. On March 19, 1982 it was destroyed again by a bomb planted by communist rebels, killing 5 people. A new building was built in the south of the city, the former site of the provincial hall is now the city pillar shrine (Lak Mueang Surat).Lak Mueang Surat is highlighted by the chedi Srivijaya style same Phra Boromathat Chaiya.
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