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Published on October 23, 2007

 Ursula Stiehler, director of the Gotisches Haus museum in Bad Homburg, usually gets to choose the themes of the exhibitions, but when the mayor made a special request at the beginning of 2006, it came as no surprise: The centenary of King Chulalongkorn's visit to the German city was coming up.

The Siamese monarch - Rama V - came to Homburg (before it added the prefix Bad) during his European tour in 1907. It was renowned, and still is, for the healing waters of its springs.

Stiehler put a full year of research into the show, which has been running through 2007 and continues until January 6, and as a reward had a genuine surprise - a visit earlier this month from Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

Covering two floors at the museum, the exhibition is called "Ich wünsche Euch Wohlergehen", which means "I wish you all very well". It's a greeting with which people would have addressed those of higher social standing 100 years ago.

"I suppose Dr von Noorden [King Chulalongkorn's personal physician in Europe] would have used the expression on his daily visits to the villa where the King and Princes stayed," Stiehler says.

The monarch spent a month in the city, restoring his vitality, and then showed his gratitude by giving its people a gilded Siamese pavilion that still has pride of place in the greenery of Kurpark.

Stiehler vividly remembers the first time she saw it, on a class trip to the vast park in the city centre, "glittering and glowing".

"As a young girl I was fascinated by its beauty. It was so enjoyable walking up the steps and using my imagination about what might happen there.

"I'm very emotionally attached to it," she laughs.

Having never been to Thailand and with few resources that might have helped - such as the "Klai Baan" ("Far from Home") collection of letters the King wrote to his daughter Princess Nibha Nobhadol - Stiehler faced a daunting task assembling the exhibition.

All she had to start with, in fact, was a history of Bad Homburg that boasted all of two pages about Chulalongkorn. From there she delved into local archives and other cities' museums, and travelled to Berlin to seek assistance from the Thai Embassy.

"It was like being a detective," she says. "I got the information piece by piece, and they linked to others."

A mountain of books, many rare photos and help from specialists such as Prof Ampha Otrakul of Chulalongkorn University - who translated "Klai Baan" into German for Stiehler - eventually produced a complete and engaging portrait of Rama V and his times.

The displays on the first floor offer a glimpse of Siam - a sala, amulets and coins. "I want to show people what life was like in Thailand," Stiehler says.

There is a symbolic bridge between Asia and Europe, representing trade and foreign affairs, and exhibits depicting the European lifestyle of the era, with a large display of hats.

"Of all the hats shown, the Homburg is the most important, because it was produced in this city more than 100 years ago," Stiehler says. "We have pictures of King Chulalongkorn and the princes wearing Homburgs."

A third section is devoted to the King's medical treatment here, covering the doctors who attended him and the applications they used, including hot showers, massages, baths in mud and carbonic acid water and being packed into "remedial" earth.

On the second floor are displays about the Villa Fürstenruhe, where the King and his sons stayed, the birthday celebration held in his honour, and the dedication of "King Chulalongkorn's well" in Kurpark.

Also on view is the royal decoration bestowed on Dr von Noorden and the invitations the King sent out to his birthday party.

Stiehler still wishes she'd had more time to arrange the show, but she is pleased with the results, and had the honour of showing Princess Sirindhorn around on October 7.

"I didn't expect the Princess' visit, so I was very, very surprised when I got the news from the mayor, but very pleased."

She got no sleep the night before thinking about what to show her royal guest and rehearsing her commentary.

The 30-minute visit, she says, was "a very high honour for me. I'd never experienced anything close to it in my 20 years in the profession.

"I hope she understood most of it. Unfortunately, it was only a very short time, and my English isn't perfect!"

The Princess, Stiehler says, was wonderful, showing a keen interest, "staying focused" throughout the tour and demonstrating a "profound knowledge".

"This is how I also imagined King Chulalongkorn when he walked through Homburg so he could get to talk with the citizens - the wonderful way the King had in approaching people - just like the Princess."

Sopaporn Kurz

 The Nation

Bad Homburg, Germany