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    At this place, HE Mahasurasinghanart who was a viceroy of frontier palace in the reign of King Rama I created a park for his relaxation and there was a royal residential in the park. He later donated this place for nuns' religious use. The reason being that there was a nun named Maen who used to be a lady of the court and also was a mother of Princess Ong Ei, a daughter of King Uthai Raja of Cambodia, came to stay in Bangkok. She was then invited to stay in Boworn palace with other nuns. The precinct where nuns lived was then called Wat Luang Shee.

     When HE Mahasurasinghanart passed away, HE Mahasenanurak who was a viceroy of frontier palace in the reign of King Rama II became the ruler of Boworn palace. By then, there was no nun living in Wat Luang Shee. Houses for nuns became ruinous so HE Mahasenanurak ordered to remove those houses and intended to build a garden for rabbit domesticating. HE Dumrong Rajanupap, the lineage collector, stated that the precinct was previously a garden for rabbit domesticating as in Royal Palace in former capital so that there had been a royal residential building in the park. Later on, HE Mahasurasinghanart donated this precinct to be Wat Luang Shee.

     HE Mahasurasenanurak ruled Boworn palace (Frontier palace) for 8 years. He then was ill with abscess. The surgery to cure the abscess was not successful. So he lost his life. After that mourning occasion, the frontier palace had been without any ruler for 7 years throughout the reign of King Rama II. Some of members of royal family in the frontier palace moved to the Grand Palace except Princess Darawadee who was married to HE Sakpolsep, regarded as a son in law of HE Mahasurasinghanart.

    When King Rama III came to his throne, he considered that HE Sakpolsep had excellently served the country and also is a son in law of royal family, cleared from any disputes. So King Rama III have royal permission to HE sakpolsep to reside at Boworn Palace. The viceroy ceremony was conducted on Sunday and it is the sixth day of the eight waning moon.

     HE Mahasakpolsep had restored and erected several things in Boworn Palace. One important feature is Wat Bowornstan Suthawas or commonly called Wat Pra kaew Wang Na because the temple was in the precinct of the palace, which is the same concept as the temple of the Emerald Buddha in the Grand Palace.

     He also dedicated rabbit garden to be a site of Buddhist temple. There are several inspirations recounted such as to fulfil his vow he offerred before he led the troops to suppress the Vientiane rebels (Prince Anuwong). The other story is that he initially wished to construct a castle but the construction was not yet completed when King Rama III did not allow and ordered that there was no tradition to construct any castle in Boworn palace. It was told that HE Mahasakpolsep was so petulant and he then changed style of the structure to be a building with four porticos as seen in present.

   HE Mahasakpolsep gracefully built Wat Bowornstan Suthawas. He collected fine Buddha images, strange artificialities, and ancient stone tools for decoration. The pagoda was modeled from other important pagodas such as Pra Tat Panom. The construction of Wat Bowornstan Suthawas was not perfectly completed. HE Mahasakpolsep got ill when he was building standing Buddha image, which is to be situated in the main church. When his illness became more serious, he gave a piece of fabric to Princess Darawadee telling her to give that fabric to the next ruler who restored the temple and, then, dress the standing Buddha image with that fabric. King Rama IV received the fabric and he then dressed that Buddha image with the fabric as requested by HE Mahasakpolsep.

     He Mahasakpolsep had ruled the frontier palace for 8 years. He got ill and passed away in 1832 A.D. at the age of 48 years old. The frontier palace then had been without ruler for following 18 years.

     After King Rama IV came to his throne, he gave his royal declaration for HE Isaretrungsan to be a viceroy and equally treated as King, similarly to the case of King Naresuan's laudation for his brother, Prince Ekatosarot.

     King Pra Pin Klao had to restore both temple and palace because there were heavily decay. In the interest of Wat Bowornstan Suthawas, King Rama IV wished to transmit Pra Buddha Sihing to be main Buddha image in the main church of Wat Bowornstan Suthawas. Similarly to the Emerald Buddha that is the main Buddha image in the royal chapel in Grand Palace. He also gave order to build a base for a throne (with four bases) at the middle of the main church and it was removed during the restoration in 1864-1866 A.D. On the interior walls, at window level, there are paintings of the story of Pra Buddha Sihing. The top parts of walls are painted with the story of Buddha. Windows and doors are painted with images of angels. However, the task was not complete and Pra Buddha Sihing was never transmitted to Wat Bowornstan Suthawas.

     In the reign of King Rama V, HE Wichaicarn, a son of King Pra Pin Klao, was the last viceroy. After his death, King Rama V gave his royal order to annul the position of viceroy. King Rama V also improved Boworn palace by demolishing the palace's front wall and adapted as Sanam Luang (Pra Meru ground in Bangkok). 

     In the precinct of Wat Bowornstan Suthawas, King Rama V has decorated the main church as a royal crematorium instead of former crematorium at Sanam Luang. The crematorium was named Pra Meru Piman. The crematorium was then used in the funeral of HE Waretwariyalongkorn, who is his preceptor, then followed by the funeral of the crown prince and some of King Rama V's sons and daughters, grandmother, and sisters.

     After that time, Wat Bowornstan Suthawas had been left in decay as time went by. In the reign of King Rama VII, the king dedicated the precinct of residential building and Wat Bowornstan Suthawas to be a National Museum in Bangkok. In 1934, the school of music was established and the school had been continuously developed until it was promoted to be a school of musical art in the department of art. Finally, it has becaome Bangkok college of musical art.

Translator : Aketawan Manowongsa