Bangkok Post – Five cultural sites across Thailand placed on UNESCO ‘tentative list’

A total of five cultural places across Thailand have been added to a tentative UNESCO list of potential new world heritage sites, a government spokesperson said Sunday.

The latest entry, the fifth, was the historic cluster of towns and adjacent sites connected to Songkhla Lake in the southern province of Songkhla.

Approval of the Songkhla town clusters was made during the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee in New Delhi on Saturday—the same day UNESCO inscribed Phu Phra Bat Historical Park in the northeastern province of Udon Thani as a World Heritage Site, Chai Watcharong said.

The “tentative” list is an inventory of properties that a country intends to nominate to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Inclusion on the tentative list is no guarantee of gaining world heritage status.

Four other sites on the tentative list are Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat (listed on Aug 28, 2012); Chiang Mai’s historical and cultural sites (Feb 9, 2015); Wat Phra Tat Phanom in the northeastern province of Nakhon Phanom (Feb 2, 2017); and Phimai, its “cultural route” and the associated temples of Phanomroong and Muangtam (Apr 11, 2019).

On a related note, Mr Chai said the government has waived admission fees to the Phu Phra Bat Historical Park, effective today until Aug 12, to celebrate the country’s fifth UNESCO World Heritage site.

“Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin invites the public to offer congratulations and celebrate the naming of Phu Phra Bat as Thailand’s new World Heritage site. This is another success in the implementation of a policy to enhance the country’s cultural competitive edge along with conservation and development works, the spokesman said.

Wat Phra That Phanom in Nakhon Phanom. (Photo: Pattanapong Sripiachai)

Phanom Rung Historical Park in Buri Ram (photo: Chanat Katanyu)