Diplomatic relations between France and Siam (as Thailand was historically known) date to the 17th century, when King
Narai of
Ayutthaya exchanged embassies with
Louis XIV, but ended abruptly when the French were expelled in the
Siamese revolution of 1688. While French Catholic priests continued to work in Siam, official relations only resumed during the mid-19th century, when King
Mongkut (Rama IV, r. 1851–1868) significantly opened up the country to the West. Following the landmark
Bowring Treaty with the United Kingdom in 1855, other Western countries entered into similar agreements with Siam, which liberalized trade and granted several concessions to the foreign powers, including the
Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1856. The
Comte de Castelnau then became the French consul to Siam, and Mongkut granted the French use of a piece of land by the
Chao Phraya River, in the area now known as
Bang Rak, for establishing a consulate in 1857. In 2011, the embassy and the Alliance Française announced the sale of their Sathon property. A new office building was built in the original Charoen Krung embassy compound from 2012, and opened in 2015, with all embassy services consolidated there. (The Alliance Française moved to a new, separate campus on
Witthayu Road.) The building, by the French firm
ADP Ingénierie, features a striking contemporary design, with a monolithic, prismatic appearance that stands in sharp contrast with the ambassador's residence. ==References==