Location: Bang Pa Summer Palace, Ayutthaya, Thailand.

Aisawan Dhiphya-Asana Pavilion (The Divine Seat of Personal Freedom)

The Bang Pa Summer Palace is situated in the Province of Ayutthaya 60 kilometers north of Bangkok.

The palace dates back to the seventeenth century, pre-dating the establishment of Bangkok as the capitol, although it did fall into disuse for a long period. All the buildings there date from its revival by King Mongkut (Rama IV) in the nineteenth century. Today, the palace is only used infrequently, and then mostly for state occasions rather than as a royal summer residence.

The palace is very European in design. The buildings are laid out along an artificial ornamental pond. In what was formerly the public area of the palace, the lake is a long rectangular pool, lines with formal plantings and the odd folly. The most obvious of the ornaments is a modern copy of a Khmer style prang.

At the end of this formal entry promenade the pond takes on a more natural shape. In this pond you see what has become the "signature piece" of Bang Pa In. It is an elegant Thai-style pavilion in the middle of a pond, with the rather daunting title of "The divine seat of personal freedom." It is really the only example of classical Thai architecture within the palace and was built by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V). It now houses a statue of him. The pond also serves to divide the "public" outer area of the palace from the inner private areas.

https://www.deviantart.com/inayatshah/art/Bang-Pa-Pavillion-XX-RW0321-875192881