King Mengrai the Great—Chiang Rai, Thailand - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com

This gentleman is the founder of what is now the northern Thai city of Chiang Rai, and the founder and first King of the Lanna Kingdom (an early Thai state). A successful and well remembered life.

King Meng Rai the Great (various spellings of his name abound), was born in the year 1238 in the town of Chiang Saen, on the Mekong River. At that time the Thai people were divided into a varying number of small states spread across what is now northern Thailand. These disunited small kingdoms were, at different times, under the suzerainty of either the Burmese Kingdom or the Cambodian Empire, the two dominant powers in the region. Seeking to unify and to give the Thai people political independence (under his rule), Meng Rai spent his adult life fighting battles against these two dominant powers, against local Thai rulers who did not understand his ambitions, and in the construction of towns, cities, temples and economic infrastructure.

In 1262 he founded the city of Chiang Rai, and made it his capital. Over the following decades he continued to conquer and liberate, expanding his rule and in the process creating the Lanna Kingdom. In 1296 he founded and made the city of Chiang Mai the new capital of this new Kingdom.

The Lanna Kingdom was to continue to exist as an independent state through to the 15th century, with good and bad times. At that stage it came under Burmese rule. Following this it was liberated and its lands became, eventually, part of the modern Kingdom of Thailand. The King himself died in 1317, a long life.


This life-sized statue is located in the front grounds of the "Fort Mengraimaharat Hospital" (Fort Meng Rai the Great Hospital). The statue depicts the King in his iconic pose: regal attire, sword in his left hand, a crown, and stepping forward (identical to WME15G: the major statue of the King in the province). The statue stands on a plinth, with a biographical inscription. The plinth rests on a dais in a small, landscaped area. As with most public statues in Thailand this is also a shrine, locals, I suspect as sizeable percentage of whom would be military personnel, come by to pay their respects to the King.

URL of the statue: Not listed

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