Siam (, , ) is a shopping district in the heart of Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. It is situated alongside a stretch of Rama I Road in the city's Pathum Wan District, from Pathum Wan Intersection to Chaloem Phao Junction, beyond which it meets the adjacent Ratchaprasong neighbourhood. The area is home to multiple large shopping malls, and, together with Ratchaprasong, forms what has been termed the city's central shopping district, functioning as the modern-day city centre. The area is named for Siam Square, a low-rise retail area owned and developed by Chulalongkorn University, as well as several enclosed malls opposite it which all bear Siam as part of their names: Siam Discovery, Siam Center and Siam Paragon, the last of which replaced the Siam Inter-Continental Hotel in 2002. The properties occupy land leased from the Sa Pathum Palace, which is privately owned by Prince Mahidol Adulyadej's branch of the Royal Family. Also within the neighbourhood are MBK Center and the Bangkok Art & Culture Centre on opposite corners of Pathum Wan Intersection. The area's commercial development initially took place during the 1960s and 1970s alongside Ratchaprasong, and together they gradually supplanted the Wang Burapha area as the city's centre of urban retail and youth culture. The BTS Skytrain, which opened in 1999 with its central interchange Siam Station serving the area, helped cement the neighbourhood's prominence. History King Mongkut (Rama IV) had built a palace and a royal temple (Wat Pathum Wanaram) near the present-day Siam area around 1855, while the land where Siam is now located was acquired by his successor King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) during the 1880s for the establishment of royal villas. The area north of Rama I Road (then known as Sa Pathum or Pathum Wan Road) was gifted to Prince Mahidol Adulyadej, and became Sa Pathum Palace. The area south of the road was intended as the estate of Crown Prince Vajirunhis's Windsor Palace, but the Prince died young and the palace was eventually given by Chulalongkorn's successor King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) for the campus of Chulalongkorn University, which was established in 1917. The areas along the road were originally left unused by the university, until a fire in 1962 destroyed the shantytown that had come to occupy the area and the university subsequently evicted the residents. The area was then developed as a low-rise retail neighbourhood, and opened as Siam Square in