Phra Phutthayotfa Chulalok

King Rama I, born Thongduang, was the founder of the Rattanakosin Kingdom and the first monarch of the reigning Chakri dynasty of Siam. He ascended the throne in 1782, following the deposition of King Taksin of Thonburi, and was also celebrated as the founder of Bangkok as the new capital of the reunited kingdom. His reign marked a revival of Siamese culture and state organization following the collapse of the Siamese kingdom in 1767. He established a new purified Buddhist sect which allied and tied together Buddhism and the monarchy, and his reign also marked the beginning of a new "Golden Age of Culture".