Tha Chang, Bangkok
pier code N9 is pier on Chao Phraya River
Tha Chang (Thai: ท่าช้าง, pronounced [tʰâː t͡ɕʰáːŋ]), or Tha Chang Wang Luang (ท่าช้างวังหลวง, [tʰâː t͡ɕʰáːŋ wāŋ lǔaŋ]), with designated pier code N9, is a pier on the Chao Phraya River at the end of Na Phra Lan Road in the area behind the Grand Palace next to Nagaraphirom Park and Ratchaworadit Pier.
Description
Its name meaning Elephant Pier (Tha is jetty, pier and Chang is elephant), it was built in the reign of King Phutthayotfa Chulalok (Rama I), who was the first monarch of the Chakri Dynasty and the founder of the Rattanakosin Kingdom. At that time, elephants from the Grand Palace were brought to this area to take a bath, so it was called Tha Chang in Thai.
It was also known as Tha Phra (Thai: ท่าพระ, pronounced [tʰâː pʰráʔ], "Pier for Buddha") in those days because it was the point where a large Buddha image named Phra Sri Sakyamuni was brought from a raft to be enshrined in the inner city (now called Rattanakosin Island). Phra Sri Sakyamuni is now the principal Buddha image of Wat Suthat.
At present, Tha Chang is a pier that hosts the Chao Phraya Express Boat that runs between Bangkok and the north ends in Nonthaburi Province, including a ferry pier that crosses to Thonburi side at the Wat Rakhang in Bangkok Noi District and Tha Wang Lang in the area of Siriraj Hospital as well. In addition, it also has a number of retail shops and eateries. At the corner of the Tha Chang area, there are old shophouses built during King Chulalongkorn's (Rama V) reign with a beautiful plaster pediment, pilasters, and stucco. The buildings have all been registered as archaeological sites by the Fine Arts Department since 2001 and have been renovated and maintained at present.
Another Tha Chang
There is another Tha Chang, Tha Chang Wang Na (Thai: ท่าช้างวังหน้า, [tʰâː t͡ɕʰáːŋ wāŋ nā]).
The public source identifies “Tha Chang, Bangkok” as pier code N9 is pier on Chao Phraya River. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Chang, Bangkok and pier.
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Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q13015683. Authority coordinates are 13.752, 100.488. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2001.
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This entry incorporates text from “Tha Chang, Bangkok” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.