Royal Crematorium exhibition to open Thursday, 2 Nov

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Royal Crematorium exhibition to open tomorrow

By PHATARAWADEE PHATARANAWIK 
THE NATION

 

 

IN A MUCH-ANTICIPATED move, the Royal Crematorium ceremonial grounds at Sanam Luang will open to the public tomorrow at 8am after Her Royal Highness Maha Chakri Sirindhorn officiates at the opening of an exhibition in honour of her father, the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, at 7am.

Eight roads linked to Sanam Luang will be closed from tomorrow as 100,000 people are expected to visit the exhibition each day. The security will be as strict as that during the Royal Cremation. 

 

Visitors must bring ID cards or passports, and will have to go through one of five screening points. There are four screening points for ordinary people at the Territorial Defence Command, Tha Chang, the Earth Goddess Statue and Thammasat University, which will also provide for the disabled, while monks and foreign visitors are invited to check in at the Defence Ministry screening point. 

 

Visitors should wear polite clothing.

 

 

At Saman Luang, tents will be provided for people to wait before entering at one of two entrances. One is near the Earth Goddess statue and another is close to Thammasat University, where wheelchairs will be provided. 

 

Visitors will be provided pamphlets there about the Royal Crematorium and, before leaving the exhibition, postcards, which will come in nine versions. Three million each of the pamphlets and postcards will be available. There will be English-language pamphlets for foreign|visitors.

 

The one-way tour will take about an hour to complete, with 5,000 visitors at a time being able to view its three zones. In the first zone, visitors will see exhibits related to Royal projects such as demonstration rice fields, “Monkey Cheek” water-retention systems and Chaipattana water mills. Visitors will be able to stay 15 minutes and take photographs.

 

 

Guides will then lead visitors to see the grand architecture of the Royal Crematorium, featuring the centrepiece Principal Pavilion (Busabok) with the fire screen surround by the Monks’ Pavilions and Dismantling Halls. Visitors will be restricted to the first level of the Royal Crematorium.

 

The tour will end at the Songtham Pavilion, where three murals depict the late monarch during his 70-year-reign. The exhibition will also highlight his biography in five sections. 

 

 

Special guides will be set up for the disabled, including an audio commentary and touchable exhibits. At Tab Kaset Hall, next to the Dismantling Hall, blind people will be able to imagine the grandeur of the Royal Crematorium by touching a replica and listening to audio.

 

From 8am to 5pm, a pipat – traditional Thai ensemble – from the Culture Ministry’s Musical Department will perform and, in the evening until 10pm closing time, there will be public performances by some of the thousands of artists who performed at the Royal Cremation. Khon masked dance will be performed on the weekend.

 

The Culture Ministry expects 3 million visitors to view the exhibition, which will end on November 30.

 

The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority will provide 60 free buses a day on six routes from 4am to 11pm. The routes to Saman Luang will depart Victory Monument, Hua Lampong Station, Mo Chit, Ekkamai, Southern Bus Station and Rattanakosin Island in Dusit district. Free ferries will be provided daily from 6am to 10.30pm from Rachanavik Sapha Pier at Thonburi’s Royal Navy Auditorium to Nivej Woradit Pier in Dusit near the Grand Palace. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30330526

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-11-01

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Public tours of Royal Crematorium offers rare view of interior

By PHATARAWADEE PHATARANAWIK 
THE NATION

 

 

PUBLIC TOURS of the Royal Crematorium at Sanam Luang in Bangkok begin today following yesterday’s trial run.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Tanasak Patimapakorn said Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn would officially open the grounds to the public at 7am, with tours beginning shortly thereafter.

 

As many as 100,000 people are expected to visit the exhibition each day, with the eight roads adjacent to Sanam Luang remaining closed. 

 

 

Yesterday morning, 16,500 governmental officials, monks, students, physically disabled people and other invited citizens took part in three separate hour-long tours of the complex.

 

About 5,500 visitors at a time will be led through three areas, first seeing exhibits related to Royal Projects initiated by His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. These include a demonstration rice field, “monkey cheek” water-retention ponds and the Chaipattana water-aeration device he invented. 

 

Other exhibits illustrate aspects of the Royal Funeral.

 

 

Visitors, who are required to be formally attired, will then have a chance to take photos in a polite manner with the Royal Cremation as a backdrop. Selfies and live online broadcasts are not allowed. 

 

The highlight of the tour is viewing the ornately decorated interior of the crematorium, which has not been accessible to the general public until now.

 

“First, we planed for visitors to enter only to the first level of the Royal Crematorium. As we realised all visitors need to see the Royal Crematorium up close, we now allow them to visit the second level,” said Tanasak, who was accompanied by Culture Minister Vira Rojpojchanarat yesterday.

 

‘Once in a lifetime’

 

He said the government understood that people were keen to view the interior but urged visitors to keep moving to give others their chance. 

 

 

The tour ends at the Songtham Pavilion, with its three murals depicting his royal projects and an exhibition of the late monarch at different stages during his 70-year reign.

 

The massive golden-gilded Royal Crematorium, which is as tall as a 60-storey building, is the centrepiece.

 

“It’s the masterpiece of the world as it shows our rich art and culture,” said 65-year-old monk Phra Wimol Thaichayon from Phra Phradaeng Temple in Samut Prakan. 

 

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to visit the Royal Crematorium of the late monarch. Being here makes me miss him so much; the King is still in my heart,” said 82-year-old grandmother Urai Wiriyarungrueng, who was in a wheelchair. 

 

 

The tour includes recorded audio commentary for the hearing impaired and tactile exhibits for the visually impaired, including a replica of the crematorium.

 

“By touching the replica with explanations by the guide, I can imagine the grandeur of the Royal Crematorium,” said Wiriya Namriripongpun, 65, a retired blind lecturer.

 

 

Visitors are required to bring ID cards or passports and will have to proceed through one of five screening points. There are four screening points for ordinary Thai people at the Territorial Defence Command, Tha Chang, the Earth Goddess Statue and Thammasat University, where wheelchairs will be provided, while monks and foreign visitors are invited to check in at the Defence Ministry screening point. 

 

At Saman Luang, tents will be provided for people to wait before entering through one of two entrances. One is near the Earth Goddess Statue while the other is close to Thammasat University. 

 

 

Visitors will be provided with pamphlets about the Royal Crematorium and, before leaving the exhibition, they will receive postcards coming in nine different versions. Three million each of the pamphlets and postcards will be available, with pamphlets printed in English and Chinese for foreign visitors.

 

More than 3 million people are expected to visit through November, after which demand would be assessed to determine whether the period should be extended, Tanasak said. If demand remained high, he said, the government would seek His Majesty the King’s permission to extend the timetable.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30330605

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-11-02

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Govt may seek more time for public visits to Royal Crematorium

By The Nation

 

 

The government will consider asking for the royal permission to allow people to visit the Royal Crematorium and an exhibition on HM the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s Royal Cremation in the same compound till the end of the year, instead of just the end of this month.

Deputy Prime Minister General Tanasak Patimapragorn, who chairs the committee organising the exhibition, disclosed yesterday that the extension would be considered if the number of visitors was still at about 200,000 a day by November 15.

 

The Royal Crematorium compound has been open to members of the public since November 2. 

 

During the past five days, about 6,000 visitors visited the place every hour during opening time. 

 

HM King Maha Vajiralongkorn, the only son of the late King, has graciously provided food and water to visitors to the exhibition too.

 

Given the immense interest of the public, Tanasak said he might propose that Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha ask for the permission from the current monarch to extend the exhibition period till the end of the year. 

 

A survey conducted jointly by the Culture Ministry and Suan Dusit University has found that people appreciate the exhibition and they feel lucky to have an opportunity to visit the exhibition.

 

“The survey, moreover, has found that people hope the exhibition period will be extended,” Tanasak said. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30331125

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-11-07

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Royal Cremation site to stay open until end of year

 

 

His Majesty the King has granted permission to the public to continue visiting the Royal Crematorium site at Sanam Luang of His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. 

The initial deadline for the visits was this Thursday but the King has agreed to extend the period to December 31.

 

Patcharaporn Inseeyong, the PM's Office's permanent secretary, said the King hoped students as well as members of the public to visit the site and learn.

 

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has already informed of the decision. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30332789

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-11-29

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New Year ends public access to Royal Crematorium

By ANUPAN CHANTHANA 
THE NATION 

 

 

AS 2017 came to a close last night, so did the Royal Crematorium exhibition that had been open to the public since November 2.

During the past two months, about 4 million people had visited the Royal Crematorium ceremonial grounds in remembrance of much-revered HM the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej (King Rama IX).

 

The late monarch passed away on October 13, 2016 with the mourning period lasting more than one year and the Royal Cremation Ceremony held over five days in October Exhibitions on the ceremony and his life were then held at the Crematorium grounds and |people were allowed to visit between November 2 and yesterday. 

 

“I am much impressed. The Royal Crematorium is grand and marks a proper farewell to the great King,” a visitor said yesterday.

 

He added that the exhibition had also featured knowledge that proved practical in his daily life. “I plan to apply it,” he said. 

 

A woman from Pathum Thani province said she went to the exhibition with her family. “I am very impressed. 

 

And from now on, I will embrace the late King’s Sufficiency Economy philosophy,” she said. 

 

As the exhibition has already concluded, the Culture Ministry is set to start deconstucting the grand Royal Crematorium later this month. 

 

By tradition, the Royal Crematorium will not be kept and the deconstruction is expected to conclude before the end of March. 

 

Culture Minister Vira Rojpojchanarat recently said wood and metal from the Royal Crematorium would be used to build a new museum in Pathum Thani province. 

 

 “Spanning over four rai [0.64 hectares] of land, the new museum will cost about Bt80 million. The exhibition space is around 10,000 square metres, including the Anodard Pond at the Royal Crematorium,” said Anan Choochote, director-general of the Fine Arts Department. 

 

Parts of the Royal Crematorium will also be displayed in the new museum. 

 

The new museum, which is expected to open in 2020, will be located in a 200-rai compound tha will also house the Supreme Artist Museum and the King Rama IX Archive. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30335148

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-01-01