Three Kings Monument

Three great kings of Thailand are imortalised in this monument in the heart of Chiang Mai.
Although there was certainly previous habitation in the area, King Mengrai founded a New City at Chiang Mai in 1296 and it became the capital of his kingdom of Lanna, as the grouping of Tai states in what is now the north of Thailand was called. For two centuries Lanna was a powerful and prosperous Tai kingdom until it succumbed to the overweening might of Burma in 1558.

According to legend, the three worked together to lay out the city of Chiang Mai. The sculpture has become something of an iconic image representing Chiang Mai. You will see it reproduced in various forms all around the city.

It is their recently erected statues that stand in a pleasant square at the very heart of the city, in-front of what used to be the Provincial Hall, but which it is now the Chiang Mai City Arts and Culture Centre.


Behind the monument stands the old provincial hall. It was converted into an Art and Culture Hall. Across Phrapokklao Road to the east stands the Chiang Mai magistrate court.

On the north-east corner of the Phrapokklao - Ratwithi intersection is Yupparat School, which was built on the grounds of the former palace of the kings of Chiang Mai. The Wooden building that stand at the corner near the intersection is the former stable for white elephants - a symbol of power and nobility - belong to former Chao.