The old Thai style house in Moesgaard Museum near Aarhus will now be renovated on the initiative of former Member of the Thai Senate Dr. Pensak Chagsuchinda Howitz. The Thai House has long been a symbol of the significant relations between Denmark and Thailand.
The Thai House was given to Denmark as a gift by the government of Thailand in 1975 and was erected at Moesgaard to be part of the museum’s summer exhibition that year, which was dedicated to Thailand. The house is around 100 years old and originally from Ayutthaya, the old capital of Siam, 200 km north of Bangkok.
In 2006, it was renovated for the first time, again with involvement of Dr. Pensak, whose interest in Denmark goes back to her time when she was married to former Danish Ambassador to Thailand, Mr. Franz Howitz.
From 18 August until 26 August, Dr. Pensak arranged for a week long visit to Denmark of Mr. Anek Sihamat, Academic Advisor to Princess Sirinthorn Institute and former Director General of Fine Arts Department, Ministry of Culture. During the visit, they met with Mr. Ulrik Høj Johnsen from the Institute for Culture and Society under the University of Aarhus, Curator at Moesgaard Museum, Professor Mikael Gravers and Professor Jan Skamby Madsen, Director of Moesgaard Museum, Svend Erik Jensen, building manager at the museum, as well as Mr. Tobias Mürsch, a young talented Danish architect likely to be involved in the project.
After an inspection of the Thai House and a meeting to outline the project in a Memorandum of Understanding, it was decided to try to renovate the house back to its original form 130 year ago in Thailand. It will be attempted to bring one or more Thai architects to Aarhus along with one or more Thai carpenters skilled in building this style of house to carry out the renovation and transfer their Thai wood working techniques to a team of Danish carpenters working with similar kind of renovation projects at Moesgaard and other museums in Denmark.
Previous news about the house: Re-opening Thai House at the Moesgaard Museum
