Qualla: Siam Society https://qualla.com/siam-society en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:36 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/4/r/w/siam-society-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Siam Society https://qualla.com/siam-society Siam Society: Introduction https://qualla.com/siam-society/ Photo credit Hdamm, CC BY-SA 3.0. The motto took two princes to compose. Prince Damrong Rajanubhab and Prince Dhani Nivat settled on five words: "Knowledge Gives Rise to Friendship." A third prince, Narisara Nuwattiwong, designed the emblem that carries it -- an elephant holding a garland of flowers in its trunk. Since 1904, when fifty people gathered at Bangkok's Oriental Hotel to form a society dedicated to the investigation of art, science, and literature in relation to Siam, that motto has served as the operating principle of one of Southeast Asia's most enduring cultural institutions. The Siam Society's membership today spans sixty nationalities, and its compound on Asok Montri Road houses rare books, a UNESCO-recognized archive, and a 19th-century teakwood house transported piece by piece from Chiang Mai.

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Image: Hdamm | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/4/r/w/siam-society-wp/w4rw-siam-society-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Siam Society: An Uncommon Founding https://qualla.com/siam-society/ Photo credit Chrispasuk, for the Siam Society, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Siam Society emerged from a particular moment in Thai history, when the kingdom was modernizing rapidly and both Thai and foreign scholars saw value in systematic research into the country's culture and natural world. On 26 February 1904, the founding meeting resolved that at...

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Image: Chrispasuk, for the Siam Society | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/4/r/w/siam-society-wp/w4rw-siam-society-an-uncommon-founding.mp3 0:06 2 full Siam Society: The Compound on Asok Montri Road https://qualla.com/siam-society/ Photo credit Chrispasuk, for the Siam Society, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1931, Ahamad Ebrahim Nana, a businessman of Indian origin born in Thonburi, gifted the Society three rai -- just under half a hectare -- of land on what was then Bangkok's outskirts. British architect Edward Healy designed an auditorium and library building that opened on 28 F...

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Image: Chrispasuk, for the Siam Society | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/4/r/w/siam-society-wp/w4rw-siam-society-the-compound-on-asok-montri-road.mp3 0:06 3 full Siam Society: Keeper of the Record https://qualla.com/siam-society/ Photo credit Chrispasuk, for the Siam Society, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Society's two scholarly journals have been published continuously since 1904. The Journal of the Siam Society covers archaeology, epigraphy, history, ethnology, religion, art, and performing arts; it joined the Scopus database of academic journals in 2019. The Natural History...

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Image: Chrispasuk, for the Siam Society | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/4/r/w/siam-society-wp/w4rw-siam-society-keeper-of-the-record.mp3 0:06 4 full Siam Society: Living Heritage https://qualla.com/siam-society/ Photo credit Chris Baker, for the Siam Society, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 2013, the Society's Council Minutes books from 1904 to 2004 were inscribed in UNESCO's Memory of the World International Register. The citation praised a century of recording international cooperation in research and knowledge dissemination. The recognition capped a long list ...

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Image: Chris Baker, for the Siam Society | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/4/r/w/siam-society-wp/w4rw-siam-society-living-heritage.mp3 0:06 5 full