via Bangkok Post, 05 October 2020: A featue of King Narai, the Ayutthayan king who established relations with the French, and his palace in Lopburi.
King Louis XIV went on to ask for a concession to some parts of Siam, to which Kosa Pan said he wasn’t authorised to speak on the matter as it wasn’t on the mission’s agenda. The envoy went home with 600 French troops, which King Louis XIV had pledged to support King Narai in Siam, and the issue of the concession was dropped. Later, the French king sent a contingent led by the Chevalier de Chaumont, accompanied by Jesuit missionaries. Although their audience with King Narai the Great took place in Ayutthaya, a picture of the event is now displace in Narai Palace.
The Jesuits didn’t just come to preach, as they also had a scientific mission. Lop Buri became one of the three star-gazing locations, besides Paris and Beijing, where they collected empirical data which they used to further improve the safety of seafaring as well as the field of astronomy.
At Kraison Siharat residential hall — commonly known as Phra Thinang Yen or Thale Chup Son hall, located some 4 kilometres from downtown Lop Buri — King Narai the Great witnessed the solar eclipse of 1688 alongside the French missionaries. But the importance of diplomatic relations under the king could also be best seen from the official residence for foreign ambassadors, known as Wichayen House.
The massive compound consists of three buildings — house of Chao Phraya Wichayen- King Narai’s Greek counsellor Constantine Phaulkon, a church and a reception hall. The buildings, except the church, had subterranean cellars where they would keep fine drinks to be served at diplomatic receptions.
Source: More than a second home
