History of the Ministry

25/05/2564 | 14,933 |

"Tha Tian Ministry”, the Ministry of Commerce that is called by mass media because of its location in the area of Tha Tian, the battlefield of two ogres of Wat Chaeng and Wat Pho according to the legend that is well known by Thai people. And why is the Ministry of Commerce located here? ...

In this regard, the record of Khun Wijit Matra (Sanga Kanchanakphan) states that ‘Once ministries had been established in the reign of King Rama V, ministers or generals often used their houses as establishments of ministries. However, the Ministry of Commerce had been established in the reign of King Rama VI due to there was still no own ministry in that time so that a building was newly established. According to the history retrieved by Khun Wijit Matra in 1950, the building of the Ministry of Commerce (Setthakarn) was built on a pennant triangular land with three access roads surrounding three sides, namely, Ket Road, Sanarm Chai Road, and Maharach Road. Formerly, this land and the surrounding area were the location of palaces, namely, Palace of Krom Muen Chetthathiben, Palace of Krom Luaang Adisorn Udomdej, Palace of Phra Ong Chao Ngonrot, Palace of Phra Ong Chao Piak, Palace of Krom Luang Badin Paisarn Sopon, Palace of Krom Muen Amaren Badin, Palace of Phra Ong Chao Lamyong, Palace of Krom Muen Tiwakorn Wong Prawat, etc.

The area of the building of the Ministry of Commerce was the area of three palaces, namely, Palace of Krom Luang Adisorn Udomdej, Palace of Krom Luang Badin Paisarn Sopon and Palace of Krom Muen Tiwakorn Wong Prawat. The building of the Ministry of Commerce was built in three floors with splendid views. The craftsmanship of the architects was elaborate. The patterns were in western style so that it looked like a modern building that was different from other establishments. The lowest floor was built specifically to be a central office of measurement directly. When the construction had been finished, the standard scales from the Ministry of Agriculture were installed as a cornerstone of the ministry that referred to trades until the present.

The symbol or logo of the ministry in that period had interesting evolutions. In the former period of Ministry of Agriculture, the minister held the logo of Phra Pirun Song Nak. Phra Pirun is a god of water who ordains to rain. Nak is about the water. The logo of Phra Pirun Song Nak is about agriculture and farming which were importance since ancient times. When the Ministry of Commerce was established in 1920, it was announced to use the logo as pendant, ancient scale and rod tied in a pattern. This logo has a meaning of commerce according to the history of the ministry and the building as described previously. In this period, the Ministry of Commerce was announced to use indigo color as a sign of the ministry. Later, when the Ministry of Commerce had jointed with the Ministry of Transport, it was then called "The Ministry of Commerce and Transport". In 1926, the ministry had announced to use a logo of Wisanukram as a logo of the ministry. The color of the logo was changed to crimson. The logo of Wisanukram was a logo of the old position of the minister of Public Works. Later, it was changed to the Ministry of Transport and used the logo of Phra Rama Song Rot.

When the duties of Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Commerce were merged and the duties of the Ministry of Commerce was considered as the most importance, the logo of Phra Wisanukram was used again because Phra Wisanukram is a god who expertise in engineering and construction. The logo of the Ministry of Commerce is therefore originated from the old logo and the tasks of forces were decreased and involved in the commerce increasingly. Currently, the logo of the ministry is still the logo of Phra Wisanukram. But the color of the ministry was changed to indigo as the same. On the large metal gate of the ministry, there are metal sheet with the logo of two thousand snakes intertwined. There are a couple of wings attached on both fronts of the gate. It is understood that the logo is a magic wand called Caduceus that belongs to Greek god named Hermes and called Mercurius by Romans. According to records of Greek, Hermes is the son of Zeus, the greatest god who are intelligent in inventions, such as Indian lute, letters, numeral and especially, scales. As a result, Hermes is worshiped by common merchants.

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