On 6 July 2023, The Siam Society had a chance to welcome 2 experts from UNESCO, Mr Andrew Henderson and Asst Prof Pipad Krajaejan, who is also a Council Member of The Siam Society, and presented them with resources from our Rare Book Collection that relate with the study of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.

As UNESCO has launched a pilot project called ‘Safeguarding World Heritage Site Archives in Southeast Asia’ in 3 heritage sites which includes the Historic City of Ayutthaya World Heritage Site, The Siam Society was able to help the researchers as the key player in archiving documents important to the conservation of the Historic City of Ayutthaya.

The researchers were greeted by Mrs Somlak Charoenpot, Vice President of The Siam Society, Khun Euayporn Kerdchouay, our Senior Consultant, Dr Peerapat Ouysook, Siamese Heritage Trust Programme Officer, and Khun Pinthip Kerdplanun our Librarian. The experts got to see the evidence and documents of the study, survey, and excavation related to Ayutthaya since the beginning of the study that have been kept in our collections. We also had a chance to show them some ancient documents from the Ayutthaya period and books on archaeological exploration in Thailand.