Research & Article

The preservation of Thai heritage (by which I particularly mean physical sites such as religious monuments, communal buildings, historical  sites  and  ancient  artifacts,  which  should  be  taken  care  of  by  everyone  including  the  responsible  governmental  agencies)  is  in  a  critical  and  problematic  state.  Thai  people  fail  to  preserve  the  value  of  cultural  heritage  to  hand  down  to  future  generations.  Instead,  they  allow  it  to  be  encroached  upon  and  damaged  for the sake of infrastructure development such as roads, irrigation canals and dams. The problems are many: expansion of settlements; lack of appreciation of the value of heritage; failure to implement laws; officials in charge of heritage who  neglect  their  ethical  and  creative  duty;  renovation  by  improper  methods;  and  vote-seeking  politicians  who  allow  historical  sites  to  be  encroached.  Everywhere, public good is sacrificed for personal benefit, and ignorance and corruption prevail.With  more  than  three  decades  of  experience  in  active  participation  in  Thai  cultural heritage preservation in Lopburi Province, I am able to state that this is an era when the attempts at preservation of Thai cultural heritage are hopelessly ineffective. The efforts of those who are intent on preserving Thai heritage will probably do no more than delay the destruction a little, because the process of destruction proceeds at a rate one hundred times faster than the efforts of preservation. Thai society today is focused on a limited number of concerns. Capitalism flourishes much more than spiritual values. Political factions fight for power to run the country. The market and economic development take center stage, and image is everything. There is, however, a possibility – even a likelihood – that this situation will not last forever, and cultural heritage will become better appreciated. There are still many people who are concerned about the destruction of cultural heritage, and even more who could be mobilized to take an interest in preservation.

In this essay, I recount my experience with campaigns to preserve cultural heritage in Lopburi, a province on the eastern side of the Central Region. Lopburi City is well-known as a very ancient political center,  and  as  a  “second  capital”  in  the  reign  of  King  Narai  (1656–1688).  But  the  surrounding  province  also  has  many  prehistoric  archaeological  sites,  caves,  forests,  mountains    and  unique  ethnic  communities  –in  short,  a  very  rich  cultural  heritage.  In  this  essay,  I  offer  two  main  principles  which,  in  my  experience,  are  key  to  success  in  conservation work; and review the outstanding problems in Lopburi City.