Friday, November 14, 2008

Municipality and province sharing the same emblem

Gable of municipal office of Talad Chaiya
When going to the office of the subdistrict municipality Talat Chaiya (เทศบาลตำบลตลาดไชยา), I did not just photograph the vision slogan on their building, but also the emblem of the municipality at the gable. What easily meets the eye when zooming into it is the fact that it shows the same chedi as the seal of the province Surat Thani, the one in Wat Phra Borom That. Quite obvious since that temple is the most historic temple in the whole province, dating back to the Srivijaya empire more than one thousand years ago.

Emblem of Talad Chaiya municipalityThe only difference between the two emblems - apart from the writing in the outer circle stating the name of the entity - are the ornamental clouds left and right of the chedi.

However - actually the temple is not located in the area of the municipality, but instead already belongs to the subdistrict Wiang west of Talad Chaiya, even checking the old announcements of the creation and area changes of the sanitary district Talad Chaiya confirms it never was located within the area of this entity. An interesting question would be at what time the municipality adopted this emblem. Were the sanitary district already eligible of having such an emblem, or only after the sanitary district was elevated to a municipality in 1999? And what happened with the TAO Talad Chaiya, which was incorporated into the municipality in 2004 - did that one have an emblem on its own?

I can only repeat the question I raised earlier when writing on these emblems the first time for more background information on these emblems...

Chedi of Wat Phra Borom That ChaiyaJust sad that the TAO Wiang does not show their emblem on their website, it'd be interesting to see if that one also features the same chedi. I even think I passed the TAO office building but missed to ask for a stop there to take a photo. At least a building which looked like that office is on highway 4011 between the temple and the main highway, right where Google Maps places the name Wiang, but we drove too fast for me to read the sign...

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