The Victory Monument – a Monument Without National Sentiments

The Victory Monument (Thai: Anusawari Chai Samoraphum) is a large military monument in Bangkok, Thailand, erected to commemorate the victory of Thailand in their brief war with colonial France in Indo-China. At the end of this battle, Thailand had managed to recapture some parts of western Cambodia and northern and southern parts of Laos, territories which previously Thailand had to cede to France forcefully in 1983 and 1904. The Victory Monument was erected as a symbol of prestige that patriotic Thais attached to these territories, which they claimed as rightfully theirs.

Although a monument of victory, the combination of designs used on the The Victory Monument got the sculptor, an Italian named Corrado Feroci, to call it the “victory of embarrassment”. The monument uses western designs in stark comparison to its neighboring monuments that use entirely indigenous Thai designs and forms. Corrado Feroci had particular dislike for the central obelisk, which although originally Egyptian, had popular usage in Europe and America. Its shape suggested a sword and masculine potency at the same time and in the case of this particular monument, was designed in the shape of five bayonets clasped together. The five bayonets represent the army, navy, air force, police and bureaucracy and are designed in a very western style common in fascist and communist countries during the 40s.

Feroci’s opinion that the Victory Monument is an embarrassment was only reinforced when in 1945, due to the victory of the Allied forces, Thailand had to evacuate the provinces it had won from France. Many Thais lost the sentiments attached to this monument after this incident and looked at it as more of a mistake. However the Victory Monument still remains a popular landmark.

The monument is located in the district of Ratchathewi to the north-east of the center of Bangkok, on a traffic island at the intersection of Phahon Yothin highway/Phaya Thai and Ratchawithi/Din Daeng Roads. There is a BTS Skytrain station of the same name to the south of the monument, and the expressway has an exit nearby to the north at Sanam Pao. Many Bangkok bus lines stop around the Victory Monument traffic circle.

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