Forts and City Walls of Ayutthaya, Ayutthaya Historical Park, Ayutthaya

Forts and City Walls of Ayutthaya, Ayutthaya Historical Park, Ayutthaya Forts and city walls were an important structures which defended Ayutthaya from the enemy. The Chao Phraya River was an important transportation route, all ships going to Ayutthaya would pass a fort known as “Pom Petch”, whose remain can still be seen nowadays. It was the largest fort located where the Pa Sak River and the Chao Phraya River meet. This area was a trade are where a lot of foreign ships and junks come to trade. In war time, canons located in the fort could fire in all directions and the strategic location of the fort helped the soldiers in fighting against their enemies. Therefore, it was considered as strong as diamond or “Petch” in Thai. The city walls were believed to be built by bricks in the reign of King Maha Chakrapat. The city walls contained gates as well as a small entrances. There were eight hundred canons located on the city walls. The city walls were dismantled in the reign of King Rama I of Bangkok so that the bricks could be used for constructing the new capital Bangkok. The city walls were consists of bricks beams with empty spaces to be filled with broken pieces of brick and dirt. It is believed that the foundation of the walls were made of logs. In the early 19th century A.D. when Ayutthaya was seized, the Burmese army dug a hole underneath the city walls and burnt the logs until the walls collapsed making way for the Burmese army to enter the city.