Com­plete­ly occu­py­ing a round­about on a major thor­ough­fare is the Democ­ra­cy Mon­u­ment. Its dis­tin­guish­ing fea­tures are the four ‘wings’ which are locat­ed at four equal­ly spaced points around a small­er cen­tral shrine. The wings are dec­o­rat­ed with art­works of war and war-relat­ed events. Quite impres­sive when seen from a dis­tance (espe­cial­ly at sun­rise and sun­set), but maybe not worth the haz­ard involved in run­ning across five lanes of Bangkok traf­fic for a clos­er look. It com­mem­o­rates the June 1932 mil­i­tary coup d’Atat that led to the coun­try’s first demo­c­ra­t­ic con­sti­tu­tion in place of absolute rule. Demon­stra­tors gath­ered here in 1973, 1976 and 1992 in their strug­gle for democ­ra­cy, sig­ni­fy­ing the impor­tant role this mon­u­ment has played in recent Thai his­to­ry.