Where to discover the traces of Portugal in Bangkok

In 1767, a few months after the destruction of Ayutthaya—the former capital of Siam—King Taksin established the new capital city of Thonburi on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River. The monarch also allocated pieces of land to different communities, including one called Kudejeen to a small Portuguese community. The name Kudeejeen is said to have been derived from either kutijeen which means “Chinese monk’s residence” in Thai, or kuleejeen, which translates into “Chinese laborers.” The Portuguese settlement brought about a complex yet harmonious set-up where Christians, Buddhists and Muslims have been co-existing together peacefully for more than 200 years. The settlement also introduced a culture that was distinctive to the place, as well as unique Portuguese-influenced cuisine.

Note: Kudeejeen is also home to notable historic and religious attractions, such as Kuan An Keng Shrine, one of the oldest Chinese shrines in Bangkok, and Wat Kanlayanamitr, a Buddhist temple where revered statues are enshrined. Though bearing no connection to Portugal, these attractions show how diverse Thai communities have always been.

One of the oldest Catholic churches in Bangkok, Santa Cruz Church was built in 1770 to cater to the religious needs of foreigners living on the west bank of the Chao Phraya. The original wooden structure was severely destroyed in a fire accident, but was rebuilt using brick in 1916 during the reign of King Rama VI. The church boasts a Renaissance-neoclassical architecture with a recognizable dome that’s reminiscent of the Duomo in Florence.

There’s another Portuguese-Catholic community in Bangkok and you may not even know about it. Further north from Kudeejeen, on the right bank of the Chao Phraya River, is where more traces of the Portuguese heritage in Bangkok can be found.

In 1674, King Narai of the Ayutthaya kingdom granted a piece of his privately-owned land in Bangkok to a Catholic priest named Lano for the settlement of Roman Catholics, which included a certain number of Portuguese families. The Catholic church Imaculée Conception was erected a year later and the community grew over the years, becoming the oldest community with Portuguese roots in Bangkok.

But due to the influx of new people and cultures into the community, Conception has never been purely Portuguese— the nationality made up a quarter of the diverse community that shared the same faith in the Catholic God. The most Portuguese part of Conception is the Imaculée Conception church that has been serving the community for more than three centuries as the longest-running Roman Catholic church in Bangkok.

A tree-shaded space on Soi Captain Bush is where the oldest European embassy in Bangkok has made its home for almost 200 years. The Embassy of Portugal was established in 1820 (as the Consulate of Portugal) during the reign of King Rama II and under the supervision of Ambassador Carlos Manoel da Silveira. It was the first European consulate in Thailand. The grounds are home to the Embassy office and the Ambassador’s Residence, which was built in 1860 using local materials (the ships carrying materials from the then Portuguese State of India had sunk). The two-story structure flaunts classic Portuguese colonial architecture, and boasts a spacious veranda overlooking the Chao Phraya River. The ground floor, once an office, is now a reception area where you can find plenty of decorative objects dating back to the Ayutthaya era as well as a prison cell used to hold Portuguese convicts before they were sent back to Portugal (when extraterritoriality was still enforced). The upper floor houses a living room, dining room and private area where you can find plenty of paintings done by Portuguese artists as well as Somboon Hormtientong, a famous Thai abstract artist.

You can also get a sense of Portugal—a more modern one— without stepping foot inside embassy grounds. Recently, the Portuguese Embassy flew in renowned Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto, aka Vhils, to carve out his signature art on the entrance wall of the embassy. Vhils is known for installing amazing wall carvings under his Scratch the Surface project at a number of locations in Lisbon and London.