Thai khon drama or the masked dance drama has been listed as intangible heritage of humanity by Unesco on Thursday.
On the same occasion, Unesco also listed Cambodia’s khon drama as intangible heritage of humanity.
Reacting to Unesco’s decision, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said in his Facebook post on Thursday that he was pleased with the decision and he credited this achievement to Her Majesty Queen Sirikit for her contributions to preserve and promote this traditional art form.
Cultural Minister Vira Rojpojchanarat said Unesco’s 13th session of Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage had decided to officially list the Thai khon masked dance drama as intangible cultural heritage.
He attributed the success to HM Queen Sirikit’s efforts to preserve, revive, develop and promote the art form.
To celebrate this success, the Culture Ministry planned to hold a special khon drama performance on December 3-4 at the National Cultural Centre of Thailand. Khon performances are also planned in other parts of the country to honor HM the Queen for her contributions to the cultural art.
Other plans in the ministry’s pipeline include an animation picture of the Ramaya epic’s Ramavatan episode to be shown in theatres across the country and dissemination of information on various aspects of khon drama as well as publication of a book on khon and exhibition of the crafting of the masks by artisans.
