Chanting ceremony opens new Bhakdibodin reception building

At 10.30am on the 10th day of the waxing moon in the 10th month of the Thai lunar calendar, the building was filled with the chants of 10 monks invited from 10 temples. 
Top officials such as Prayut, Cabinet members, military chiefs, bureaucratic executives and Government House staff attended the opening ceremony. 
Bhakdibodin – which means “loyalty to the King” – was picked by Prayut from 20 names proposed by the Fine Arts Department to grace the new building designed to welcome prominent visitors to the country.
However, the opening had been delayed, with the construction contract signed in March last year stipulating a groundbreaking ceremony two months later and a completion date in February. 

The construction was undertaken by a private contractor under the directive of the Cabinet secretariat, the Army’s Post Engineer Department and the Fine Arts Department.
Bhakdibodin is Government House’s first new building since 2001, when the Cabinet Secretariat and the Office of the National Security Council buildings were opened during the administration of former prime minister Chuan Leekpai.
Prayut and prime minister secretary-general General Wilas Aroonsri initiated the renovation and construction projects, including Bhakdibodin’s, in the Government House compound.
The building was designed with Neo-Venetian Gothic architecture to be in harmony with the Thai Khu Fah building. It was painted yellow, a colour representing the late King’s birthday, and adorned with a giant golden dome.

On the first floor of the two-storey building are three reception rooms – the main room with a capacity to host 150 people, the golden 10-person Thongthara room and the blue-and-pink eight-person Wanasiri room – all decorated with mixed portraits from the Queen’s Support Foundation.