Tourism Boom Driving Temple Robberies

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Tourism boom driving robberies

SUNTHON PONGPAO

Ayutthaya -- The tourism boom may be encouraging the theft of antiquities, with items not fitting local collectors' tastes possibly being exported overseas. Historical art experts agree that hotels and spa establishments may have created a demand for antiquities looted from old temples.

Some prefer to decorate their premises with authentic ancient wares and statues to generate an ambience that will attract customers.

Anek Sihamat, director of the fine arts office in Ayutthaya, said there have been ''orders'' from abroad for items such as old urns left in the backyards of some temples.

The urns were usually associated with a rather morbid notion of the deceased and were rarely sought by local collectors. It was, therefore, likely the items were stolen for buyers outside the country who were not bothered by local beliefs.

Ayutthaya, an ancient capital and home to centuries-old temples, had reported many antiquities thefts in past years. Only a few of the stolen item were recovered.

Mr Anek said large objects of antiquity had allegedly been on the ''shopping list'' of some luxurious spa hotels and resorts over the past five years.

Popular antiquities included Buddha statues, the pulpits where monks sit when giving sermons, the wooden cabinets storing the holy Buddhist canon, and even temple roof ornaments.

Many thieves were in hiding in Ayutthaya's Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district and Wiset Chai Chan district of neighbouring Ang Thong, Mr Anek said.

According to Fine Arts Department records, the wooden roof decorations in temples were a rarity now and fewer than 50% of the antique cabinets and pulpits remain in the temples.

The department tried to have the antiquities registered so that officials could trace them if they are stolen.

''But many temples don't want us to register them for fear that we would take them to museums, which is not true,'' Mr Anek said.

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From the Bangkok Post.