Tha Phae Gate, Chiang Mai

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Tha Phae Gate

Tha Phae Gate is the eastern gateway into the old city of Chiang Mai. The name "tha phae" means "raft landing", and refers to a time when people would arrive in the city of Chiang Mai on raft. In those ancient times, the entire 750 meters of the east side of Chiang Mai was protected by a moat and a wall. Tha Phae Gate was the only entrance, via a bamboo drawbridge, into the city. Today, the drawbridge has been replaced with a causeway. As for the gate itself, what you see today is not as old as you might possibly imagine it to be.

The original Tha Phae Gate is long gone. In fact, it was not even at the same location as the modern gate. It was in Kamphaeng Din, to the southeast of the old city. It was known as the "outer gate". In the location where we see the present-day Tha Phae Gate was an older gate, built during the reign of King Mangrai in 1296. It was the "inner gate", called Pratu Chiang Ruak, or Chiang Ruak Gate, because it is close to Chiang Ruak village.

After Chiang Ruak Gate was dismantled in the early 20th century. When the Municipality of Chiang Mai and the Department of Fine Arts collaborated to rebuild the gate in the late 1960s, they based the modern reconstruction on an 1891 photograph of the gate.

What to see

Tha Phae Gate is a plain red brick gate with stout doors. As seen from its good state of repair, it is a modern reconstruction rather than the actual.