Fire Destroys Siam Society Building

[webfact]

Fire destroys Siam Society building

A building inside the Siam Society was destroyed by a fire early Friday morning, police said.

Fortunately, the blaze was put out before it spread to the library with old books since the reign of King Rama V.

Some ten fire fighters took about20 minutes to put out the fire after it broke out at 4:30 am but the fire had already consumed the entire building.

The building was used a souvenir shop.

Jaroon Sinthep, 55, a security officer, said he heard a sound of short circuit before the blaze started.

-- The Nation 2009/11/20

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

[webfact]

Fire Destroys 100-Year Old Siam Society Building

UPDATE : 20 November 2009

A fire has destroyed the more than 100-year-old Siam Society building in the Asoke area. Police are on site to investigate the cause.

-- Tan Network 2009/11/20

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

[mjperry]

The Siam Society website says that the fire destroyed the office, shop and damaged part of the library

Martin

[Meridian007]

I hope they will be able to salvage the majority of the items, I hate to hear about the destruction of history.

[webfact]

Siam Society fire first setback in its lengthy history

By Michael Smithies

Special to The Nation

Published on November 21, 2009

Siam Society fire first setback in its lengthy history

Longtime residents not only of Bangkok, but all of Thailand have been shocked by the news of the fire in the early hours of yesterday that gutted the office building, bookshop and another shop in the Siam Society grounds and severely damaged the remaining premises.

It is not yet known for certain what caused the fire.

The Siam Society, under royal patronage, was founded in 1904, the earliest academic society of its kind in the country. Its first meeting was held in the Oriental Hotel, and early on it received royal support for its activities. Prince Damrong, the father of Thai history", was a founding members. Past presidents have included wellknown scholars like HH Prince Dhaninivat, HRH Prince Wan Waithayakon and HSH Prince Subhadradis Diskul.

At first, meetings were held in members' homes, but then in the early 1930s the society received a grant of 3 rai of land in Soi Asoke from the generous businessman AE Nana and was able to build a lecture hall, which was opened in February 1933 and still stands.

The adjacent library/office building/research centre, built in part with Danish contributions, came later and was formally opened in the presence of Their Majesties the King and Queen of Thailand, Her Majesty Queen Rambhai Barni and Denmark's King Frederick IX and Queen Ingrid on January 13, 1962. Subsequent buildings added to the compound include the northernstyle Kamthieng House, the Ayutthaya period Saengaroon House and the main Chalerm Phra Kiat Building, which now holds the muchexpanded library.

The society arranges a series of lectures and study tours both inside and outside the country and since its foundation has established its wellknown Journal of the Siam Society, which appears annually and maintains the highest standards of scholarship. It also publishes a regular Natural History Bulletin of the Siam Society and many academic works unlikely to be supported by commercial publishers, such as its most recent volume on shipwreck ceramics, by the late Roxanna Brown.

The society is run by its members through an elected council and has a fulltime staff of 14. President Athueck Asvanund has the unenviable task of overseeing the reestablishment of the society's damaged buildings and compound.

As a meeting point between East and West, the society's home has an unrivalled history and role still to perform. This is the first serious setback in its long history but one that, we all hope, will be rapidly overcome.

Michael Smithies, a book reviewer for The Nation, edited the Journal of the Siam Society for many years.

-- The Nation 2009/11/21

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]