Klaomard Yipintsoi
Mrigadayavan Palace Foundation
Mrigadayavan Palace is considered to be one of the major tourist destinations of the beach town, Cha-am. Approximately 500,000 visitors per year come to admire its beautiful period architecture with the opportunity to stroll on extended wooden walkways connecting three sets of Royal Halls, while having a view of the white sandy beach and enjoying a nice cool breeze.
Mrigadayavan Palace was meant to be a humble private residence with simple, yet elegant design, hidden away with all the most advanced technology of the “modern” period in Thailand at that time. In recent times, the palace has been undergoing continuous restoration and conservation. This presents a rare opportunity to understand the meticulous process of preserving the historical buildings, art and architectural heritage of Mrigadayavan.
Mrigadayavan Palace is not only about beautiful art and architecture, but also about ecological heritage conservation with an attempt to work with nature and understand natural rehabilitation of beach, forest and coastal natural ecology. Mrigadayavan Palace is also about preserving cultural heritage through the regulations and rules imposed on visitors, classical Thai music, reading programs, the library and presenting culinary arts of the period.
Can Mrigadayavan Palace possibly be proposed as a living museum, a type of heritage tourism and leisure time – Mrigadayavan Palace style?
(Presented in the conference : 2017 Chulalongkorn Asian Heritage Forum : Culture of Leisure – Balance of Life, 7-8 August 2017, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand)