<論文>近代タイにおける考古学行政の導入過程 --第一次世界大戦と「古物調査・保存に関する布告」(1924)を契機として--

Abstract

This essay clarifies the process by which archeological administration was introduced in modern Thailand in the period from the First World War to the 1932 Revolution. A major turning point was the replacement of German linguist Oskar Frankfurter as chief librarian of the Wachirayan Library by French epigraphist George Coedès, as a result of Thailand's involvement in the war on the side of the Allies. Since Coedès had settled in Thailand, strong ties developed between its cultural administration and the École française d'Extrême-Orient (French School of Asian Studies). On the strength of this relationship, the French government proposed that the Thai government set up an archeological service. In response to the French request, Prince Damrong drafted the Decree of Investigation and Conservation of Antiquities, the first regulation for the preservation of cultural properties in Thailand, which was promulgated in 1924. In the late 1920s, Prince Damrong engaged in many important works: at the suggestion of Fernand Pila, a French Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Thailand, he published Buddhist Monuments in Siam, which is today considered to be the first Thai art history; he established the Royal Institute, the first comprehensive organization of cultural administration; he made legislative preparations for controlling exports of cultural properties; and he reformed Bangkok Museum. Also, he drafted the Act for the Establishment of Bangkok Museum, the first systematic law consisting of nineteen articles to govern and manage cultural properties. From 1929, curators of the museum such as Luang Boribanburiphan and Manit Wanlipodom started nation-wide archeological investigations under the direction of Prince Damrong. Even after Prince Damrong lost power in the Thai government as a result of the 1932 Revolution, the museum's curators remained at the reestablished Fine Arts Department, and continued to play central roles in the administration of archeological and cultural properties.