Construction of first ancient museum in Thai North kicks start

LAMPANG, March 19 (TNA) - The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment's Department of Mineral Resources has kicked start the construction of a museum of ancient remains and geological records in Lampang province, the first of its kind in the northern region but the sixth in Thailand so far. Praneet Roibang, the department's Director General, on Monday presided over a ceremony to lay a foundation stone on a 10-rai plot of land (2.5 rai=1 acre) along the outbound of Lampang-Tak Road near the Statue of Thailand's Late King Naresuan the Great in the Ayutthaya period and the Tambon Koh Ka Municipality in Koh Ka district, where the museum is situated, signifying the official start of its construction, funded by an over 100-million-baht state budget. The museum is established for the purposes of preserving Koh Ka ancient human remains, fossils of dinosaurs and four-tusk elephants, as well as other vertebrate ruins, rocks, minerals found in 17 provinces in the Thai North and geological records, namely faults, volcanic lava and meteorite, to become the geological and archaeological research centre in the northern Thai region. The new museum is expected to be inaugurated for public visits by late 2016. (TNA)