Press Releases
U.S. Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation
“Survey and Inventory of Historic Buildings on Charoen Krung”
#034/07 September 25, 2007
U.S. Ambassador Ralph L. Boyce and Thammasat University Rector Dr. Surapon Nitikraipot today presided over the grant ceremony for the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation at Thammasat University’s Tha Prachan Campus.
This year, the annual U.S. Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation Project focuses on the preservation of historic buildings on northern Charoen Krung Road in Bangkok. The project was proposed by the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at Thammasat University, whose long-term goal is to survey, inventory, and preserve historic buildings on northern Charoen Krung Road.
During the ceremony, Ambassador Boyce highlighted the importance of the project saying, “[It] will draw attention to the cultural significance of buildings along northern Charoen Krung Road in Central Bangkok, and will highlight the danger of losing them in the future.”
Initiated by the U.S. Congress in 2001, the Fund allows American ambassadors to support the efforts of host countries to rescue heritage that is fragile and in danger of being lost forever.
“We in the United States learned the lessons of historical preservation the hard way. Many of our most beautiful and iconic city structures, such as the old Pennsylvania Station in New York, the majestic houses in downtown Washington, D.C., and scores of other buildings across America, were torn down before we realized what was being lost,” Ambassador Boyce added.
Since 2001, over US$153,000 has been awarded to seven different projects in Thailand under the Ambassador’s Fund, including preserving the historic Kamthieng House located on the Siam Society grounds, preserving ancient textiles at the National Museum, cataloguing Thai textile patterns from throughout the country, surveying southern Thailand’s Islamic architectural heritage through a digital archive, restoring a mural at Wat Baan Koh in Lampang province, and assisting local communities in preserving pre-historic rock shelters in Mae Hong Son province.