Ancient Ayutthaya temple damaged by drama-obsessed tourists

By The Nation

 

 

Parts of Wat Chaiwatthanaram, an ancient temple in Ayutthaya, have been closed as officials seek to repair damages caused by tourists.

 

“Some tourists have not followed the rules. They climbed on ancient structures instead of using stairways,” Channarong Kaewruang, a historian working at the Ayutthaya Historical Park, said yesterday.

 

Inspired by the popular Ayutthaya period TV drama “Buppesannivas”, or “Love Destiny”, more than 10,000 tourists have recently visited the temple each day. 

 

An artisan who is repairing the historic site said many bricks had fallen off the structure because tourists had climbed on it. 

 

The historical park has erected boards warning tourists about banned behaviour. 

 

Nattakorn Heepkaew, a 29 year-old tourist from Chon Buri, said he respected the rules and hoped others would do the same.

 

“We need to help conserve such historical sites or else such impressive sites will disappear in the future,” he said.

 

There have been a series of high-profile cases related to historic sites in Ayutthaya recently, including uproar after a group of Thai tourists posted photos of themselves posing on temples under the hashtag “gang of sinners”. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30341494

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-3-22

Whoop-de-doo.  What is damage to a few old bricks compared to the horrendous "renovations" done by the Fine Arts Department in Ayutthaya?

Following in the steps of the Burmese invaders.

Just wait till a crazy Yaba high coach driver piles into it !

8 hours ago, Colabamumbai said:

Following in the steps of the Burmese invaders.

Actually, the Burmese invaders didn't do much structural damage to the temples in Ayutthaya. That they did is a commonly held misconception. It is true that they removed gold leaf and anything of value, but they left the temples intact.

When the capital was moved to Ayutthaya, it was in fact the Thais who dismantled a lot of the brickwork and shipped it down river to assist with building the new capital. Much of the other damage is from more recent lootings and time.

2 hours ago, Katipo said:

Actually, the Burmese invaders didn't do much structural damage to the temples in Ayutthaya. That they did is a commonly held misconception.

 

Not exactly true.  Their canon caused an enormous amount of damage.  The one temple (the name of which eludes me for the moment) off the island to the north, where the Burmese based their canon, is much better preserved than the ones on the island that were battered.

Regardless of who has done damage previously nobody should be allowed to continue to do damage...these ruins are part of a national heritage that should be protected and preserved for future generations to appreciate and grow to understand the role of Ayutthaya in Thailand's history. This is worse than someone coming too your house and driving their car through the front door as impacts far more people. 

It’s going to get much worse 

Dont worry in   billions of years the whole  planet  will be annihilated so in the  bigger  picture everything is irrelevant........unless of  course  you "believe"  ( with no evidence unlike my  comment) that your religious fruitcake will save you all.