AP PHOTOS: Grand and heartfelt send-off for late Thai king

BANGKOK – Near Thailand’s Grand Palace, a crematorium is being built to represent Mount Meru, the place where Buddhist and Hindu gods reside. Artists and craftsmen, many of them volunteers, have toiled for months to create more than 100 sculptures and statues to be placed inside the crematorium complex.

Their dedication to the ongoing work is part of the elaborate farewell to the country’s beloved late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who reigned for seven decades and was revered by many Thais as their father and a demigod. Huge crowds lined the route when a cortege took his body to the Grand Palace the day after his death last October.

He will be cremated this Oct. 26 in a ceremony that is expected to be beamed around the world and will be one of the most expensive in history with a budget of 1 billion baht ($30 million). But for the millions of Thais who loved the king, what matters is more personal — how they can contribute to his final goodbye.

Amid a clatter of hammers and a deafening whirr of metal grinders, nine elegant, elaborate pavilions have arisen on a field opposite the Grand Palace. The construction is ahead of schedule and the funeral preparations are nearly complete, according to the country’s Fine Arts Department.

“Many (artists) who are here are loyal and faithful to the late king,” said Surathkij Pheeraphongsil, a director in the department. “Nobody complains about difficulties or about being tired because the late king endured more than us.”

At the Fine Arts Department, close by the cremation site, the artisans, craftsmen and artists painstakingly apply the last layers of paint to the array of mythical creatures, angels and gods. Statues of former kings of Thailand, already completed, stand to one side.

Many of the artists are volunteers, giving their skills free of charge.

“This event has brought together talented artists from across the country to create the most amazing art pieces for the late king,” said painter Charoen Marboot.

For 23-year-old Waritha Songtua, a recent art graduate – hard at work on a wood carving — there’s a strong element of duty in the work she’s undertaking.

“As a Thai who has an ability in art, I can use it to give back to the country, because to conserve art and culture is like protecting the nation,” she said.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun, Bhumibol’s son and successor, is set to have his formal coronation before the end of the year.