Rescue of the Kingdom's architectural and artistic heritage

[PeteC]

Many photos at link: https://www.bangkokpost.com/travel/1872 ... g-the-past

When he was young, Therdsak Yenjura always walked a hiking trail from the foothills of Doi Suthep to visit Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. The route, which took him a couple of hours, passed Wat Pha Lat, a forest monastery located about halfway to the destination. He sometimes made a stop to pay respect to old Buddha images housed in a ruined concrete structure of the temple.

"I always wondered what the building was like before it was damaged," he recalled. The remains were only the base and seated Buddha images. When he became a leader of the historical-site-preservation unit of the Fine Arts Department's Chiang Mai office, he initiated a project to preserve the historical site in his hometown. A few years ago, his team worked with the Lanna Architect Group and Wat Pha Lat to start the renovation project.

"There is no evidence to indicate when Wat Pha Lat was built and why there is a structure located next to a stream. What we found was only a picture from a visit by Prince Damrong Rajanubhap during the reign of King Rama V," he said. Fortunately, the photo had all the details of the structure though it was almost destroyed by time and earthquakes.

Based on the photo, the team outlined details and drafted the structural blueprint. The old hall was built in colonial architecture. It was believed to be constructed by Burmese people who worked for a British logging company in Chiang Mai.

"We believe the structure was built either as a prayer hall or for meditation," he said. The building is known today as Hor Phrachao Rim Nam, meaning a hall of Buddha located next to a stream.

The restoration was completed last year. When finished, the white building looks different from other facilities at the temple. It has a rectangular shape, four windows and one door. Each window and the door have an arch shape. Stucco art of a peafowl fanning out its feathers decorates on the top of each pillar. The hall also has stucco art of a king aiming an arrow at a mythical lion, or singh, on both the left and right sides of the door.

After the big renovation, the hall is safe for tourists to enter and pay respect to the Buddha images inside.

Recently, the Fine Arts Department's Chiang Mai Office completed several restoration projects in the province. Another notable one is the restoration of murals of Wat Pa Daed in Mae Chaem district.

The project was initiated by Her Royal Highness Princess Siribhachudabhorn in 2016 when the princess visited the temple. The restoration work took about 18 months, including repairing wall cracks and repainting the murals, said Korn-uma Nutasarin, a senior academic artist at the Fine Arts Department, who led the restoration team.

The temple was built during the period of King Rama V by the ruler of Nakhon Muang Chaem, or Mae Chaem as it's known today. The murals cover approximately a 120m² area of the upper part of the walls. The paintings were created in 1889 by Tai Yai artists. They recounted the life of Lord Buddha.

"It was fortunate that the damage was light. We found colours faded and blanched in parts. There was no peeling," she said. The renovation project was completed last year.

Another ongoing project is the discovery of a group of ancient human skeletal remains in San Pa Tong district. The excavation started in 2013 and finished last year, when all 35 ancient human skeletons and one horse skeleton were discovered in a 3x7m pit in Wat Tha Kan.

"We once had a plan to keep the excavation site as it was and open it for public visits, but later we decided to remove all the skeletal remains because of the soil condition. It is too soft to exhibit the skeleton in an open pit," said Nongchanai Tarugsa, an archaeologist of the Fine Arts Department's Chiang Mai office.

The skeletal remains have been kept in her office with a plan to exhibit them in the future. The short-term plan for the team is to test the DNA of those ancient people. The team hopes to know who they were and if they are related to people in the present day.

The test needs funds from the government, as well as expertise and co-operation from an international laboratory that has a database of people living in prehistoric Southeast Asia.

"The DNA analysis of ancient humans is new for us. In Thailand, there was no such proof before, not even from the skeletons found in the archaeological site in Ban Chiang," said Phnombootra Chandrajoti, deputy director-general of the Fine Arts Department. Knowledge about the age of ancient people is normally estimated from artefacts found in the excavation site.

The latest archaeological site, unearthed last year, is an iron smelting furnace, dating back 2,300 years. The site is located in Li district in Lamphun, 165km south of Chiang Mai city.

"It is the oldest furnace found in the Kingdom," said Yoddanai Sukkasem, an archaeologist at the Fine Arts Department's Chiang Mai office.

The teams of archaeologists found about 40 sites for ancient iron-smelting furnaces in the Mae Lan community. Each site had three or four remains of bloomeries. However, the team didn't find iron tools nor iron axes, swords or knives. They assumed that the community produced iron for export.

The furnaces were made of clay and about 10-15cm thick. They were used for direct iron smelting that heated ore to 1,100-1,300C for a couple of days until the iron was extracted.

"We haven't found any ancient furnaces that look like the ones in Mae Lan. We also found a large number of furnaces and that can lead to the assumption that Mae Lan was one of the biggest sources of iron ore in prehistoric times," Yoddanai said.

The Fine Arts Department expects that the knowledge of history and the artifacts found in the archaeological sites can be further promoted to be tourist attractions in the future.

TRAVEL INFO

Wat Pha Lat is open daily. It is located on Road 1004, about halfway to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. The temple can also be reached on foot. The hiking trail starts at the Channel 7 broadcasting station.

Wat Pa Daed in Mae Chaem district is about a 3.5-hour drive from the city of Chiang Mai. Visit the Tha Pha Tambon Administrative Office website at thapa-cm.go.th or call 053-114-660 for more information.

To see the ancient furnace in Lamphun or organise a workshop for smelting iron ore, contact the Tambon Administrative Office of Mae Lan at 053-518-089 or call the 7th Regional Office of the Fine Arts Department in Chiang Mai at 053-222-262 or visit its Facebook Fan Page at facebook/finearts7chiangmai.

[PeteC]

....and in the news, they need to rescue this one! The Gov pulls a fast one with I'm sure backhanders galore to many. The story stinks of corruption, made worse that it got through the system with no public notifications or debate it appears. Photos at link.

GOV’T GIVES UP PART OF PREHISTORIC CAVE PAINTING SITE FOR MINING

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/202 ... or-mining/

YALA — An archaeological site in southern Thailand could be demolished to make way for a commercial mining operation, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday.

The revelation prompted angry netizens to demand answers from the Fine Arts Department, who authorized the Yala landmark’s special status to be withdrawn. An art enthusiast who broke the news said officials should value the painting, which is believed to date back at least 1,000 years.

“This is not an acceptable reason,” Pasinee Pramunwong, who runs Facebook page Artteller, said in an interview. “Many researches suggested that the paintings may be about 1,000 years old. Some even suggested that they could be dated back to the prehistoric era.”

She added, “I’m shocked to see why our government gave up this cultural significance so easily.”

The 190 rai (30.4 hectares) area was previously designated as an archaeological site until a recent announcement published in the Royal Government Gazette withdrew its protection status and permitted mining operations to take place there.

The announcement said there was a shortage of available mining excavation sites due to the insurgency in the three southernmost provinces. It also said a mining operation there would reduce secessionist violence.

The Department of Fine Arts could not be reached for comments as of press time.

Although the statement was published since Feb. 26, the matter only came to public attention on Wednesday when Pasinee wrote about it on her Facebook page. She called in an “archaeological emergency.”

“There was an explosion at a nearby mountain before, which damaged the Khao Yala cave paintings,” she wrote. “The area, which will become the new concession area, is the last cave painting site left at Khao Yala. It’s not just a stain left on the cave wall, it’s a page of history.”

Her post has since been shared more than 16,000 times. #YalaCave is also one of the the top trending hashtags on Thursday.

“Isn’t the Fine Arts Department’s duty is to preserve these kinds of things? Why did they give it up to the capitalists for mining?” user @nefj94 wrote.

Some were left confused by the rationale cited in the announcement.

“Did I read it correctly? How could the archaeological site reduce the tension in the Deep South?” Thairath news anchor Jomquan Lhaopett wrote on her Twitter.

Transparency activist Srisuwan Janya said on Thursday he will file a petition against then-chief of the Fine Arts Department Anan Chuchotti, who approved the order, for malfeasance.

Khao Yala was declared an archaeological site in 2001, according to the Fine Arts Department. Paintings depicting humans and animals, as well as artifacts like adzes and ceramics, have been found inside the cave.

[stretch]

Same as britain destroy your history and culture for a new rail link.