By Eric Lim

Contents

• Banglamphu
• History of the building
• Organisation of the museum
• The old city
• Memories of old Banglamphu
• Communities and craftsmen in Banglamphu
• The Saviour of Banglamphu
• Postscript
• Map to the Pipit Banglamphu Museum

Banglamphu

Banglamphu is the area that is bounded by Phra Athit Road, Wisut Kaset Road, Dinso Road and Ratchadamnoen Avenue. Please map below. Khao San Road, the area that’s a favourite with backpackers, is in Banglamphu.

History of Kuru Sapha Printing House

The Pipit Banglamphu Museum is housed in a building that used to be the Kuru Sapha Printing House or Wat Sangwet Printing House. The wooden building, constructed in 1925, served as a text-book store. The concrete building, built in 1932, was the Wat Sangwet Printing School, the first printing school in Thailand.

Classes were conducted in the mornings and printing operations in the afternoon providing students with practical experience. In 1946, the school ceased operations and concentrated on printing text books and major literary works in the country.

The printing house moved out of the premises in 1985 and the place was left vacant for 10 years till the lease expired. In 1995, the Treasury Department who is the landlord decided to demolish the buildings.

Residents of Banglamphu led by Mrs. Orasi Silpi rallied to preserve the old buildings as a museum for the Banglamphu community. In 2001, the Fine Arts Department registered the buildings as a historical monument and the buildings were later restored.

The result two beautifully restored two-story buildings; an L-shaped concrete building in front and a long teak building to the rear with a garden in between.

Contents

Organisation of the Pipit Banglamphu Museum

The first floor of the concrete has two sections; the first is an area for temporary exhibits for special occasions, the second section records the history of the old city, the forts and the city gates

The second floor had several rooms with exhibits on the Treasury Department, coin minting, asset management, land appraisal at different periods and locations which I will not cover in this article.

During the visit, I was wondering what all these had to do with the Banglamphu community until I remembered the 70 m baht contributed by the Treasury Department for the restoration of the buildings.

After the Treasury Department exhibits, we crossed over to the wooden building via an adjoining bridge. A Thai journalist quaintly described this building as the "world of commoners", to which most of us belong, I guess.

The Old City

One section on the ground floor of the concrete building in the Pipit Banglamphu Museum features the old city walls, forts and city gates.

With the destruction of Ayutthaya fresh in mind, King Rama I located his new capital on the east bank of the Chao Phraya. The old city consisted of the walled Grand Palace and Temple of the Emerald Buddha and several other royal residences. The city was protected on the west by the Chao Phraya River.

To the east were two canals, the Asadang Canal dug earlier in the reign of King Taksin and an outer canal ring Rob Krung Canal* dug in the reign of King Rama I, which effectively turned the old city into an island surrounded by a moat.

*As the canal flows pass a different area it adopts a different name. At Banglamphu, it’s called the Banglamphu Canal. At other stretches, it’s called Ong Ang Canal.

Please see map of the old city and the two defensive canal rings.

Memories of Banglamphu

We entered Pipit Banglamphu Museum in the wooden building and were ushered into a dark room that appeared to be a library with book shelf on one side and a set of louvre doors on the other.

A tug on one of the books on the shelf and the louvre doors opened automatically to a scene of a canal in a wooded area, all projected imagery on the floor and the walls.

A silhouette of a man on a boat drifts by and the story of old Banglamphu commences. We cross over a real wooden bridge and take a walk down memory lane.

Communities and craftsmen in Banglamphu

Communities in Banglamphu grew around places of worship, frequently these communities were also a centre of a craft or special skill. The Pipit Banglamphu Museum preserves the legacy of these communities.

Wat Sangwet Witsayaram Community was a community of musicians. The neighborhood was popular for movies, musicals and drama. Today Duriyapraneet Thai Music School continues the tradition of the community.

Muslims from Pattani migrated to Bangkok in the beginning of the Rattanakosin era and their descendants make up the Chakrabongse Mosque Community. In the old days, members of this community were royal goldsmiths.

Banana stalk carving was a specialty of the Mon in the Wat Mai Amataros Community a skill handed down through generations. Unfortunately, it’s a dying art today.

The Saviour of Banglamphu

The last section of our tour of the Pipit Banglamphu Museum features the golden Buddha statue called Phra Buddha Banglamphu Prachanat or the Saviour of Banglamphu.

This statue was originally kept in Wat Bornwornniwet and taken out once a year during Songkran in a procession from the temple to Santichai Prakan Park for residents to worship.

On 8 August 2014, the Buddha statue was moved to the museum and kept permanently there.

Postscript

In the course of urban development, all but two of the 14 old forts were demolished. Only Fort Phra Sumen and Fort Mahakarn remain. Most of the old wall was destroyed too except for short sections near the two surviving forts.

At the end of 2011, severe floods, the worst in decades, hit northern, central Thailand and Bangkok. Banglamphu being on the banks of the swollen Chao Phraya was not spared. The 100-year Lamphu tree, the last Lamphu tree in Banglamphu, was swept away. Fireflies haven’t been seen in the neighbourhood for a long time.

Contents

Map to Pipit Banglamphu Museum

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