Church of Santa Cruz

The Church of Santa Cruz.

 
The cream-colored Church of Santa Cruz is about the only clue that this part of Bangkok was once the area where Portuguese merchants and missionaries once lived in the early years of Bangkok. The church was originally built in the late eighteenth century when Thonburi was briefly established as the capital of Thailand. It was rebuilt in 1834 and agin in 1913.

There's not much else to show that this area was once the home of the largest western presence in Thailand during the early years of Bangkok.

Interesting but probably useless factoid: The Thai word for bread, pung, comes from the common Portuguese word for it at the time. The Portuguese were responsible for introducing baked bread to the Thais, who probably only knew Chinese style steamed dumplings -- sala pao -- before the Portuguese showed up.