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Silpakorn University

university

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 30, 2026
Entity authorityQ1209824 ↗
Source-derived summary

Silpakorn University (SU.) (Thai: มหาวิทยาลัยศิลปากร; RTGS: Mahawitthayalai Sinlapakon; also known as The University of Fine Arts of Thailand) is the first arts university and one of the oldest universities in Thailand. Originally renowned for its excellence in fine arts, design, architecture, archaeology, and music, the university has since expanded its academic offerings to encompass all major disciplines. The university was founded in Bangkok in 1943 by Tuscan–born art professor Corrado Feroci, who took the Thai name Silpa Bhirasri when he became a Thai citizen. It began as a fine arts university and now includes many other faculties as well. In 2016, it has 25,210 students.

History

Silpakorn University was originally established as the School of Fine Arts under Thailand's Fine Arts Department in 1933. The school offered the only painting and sculpture programs and waived tuition fees for government officials and students. Its creation owes much to the almost lifetime devotion of Silpa Bhirasri, an Italian sculptor (formerly Corrado Feroci) who was commissioned during the reign of King Rama VI to work in the Fine Arts Department. He subsequently enlarged his classes to include greater members of the interested public before setting up the School of Fine Arts. The school gradually developed and was officially accorded a new status and named Silpakorn University on 12 October 1943.

Editorial summary

“Silpakorn University” enters the record as university. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Silpakorn, University and university can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA strong contextual entry point for chronology, institutions and public events when official records are distinguished from later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1943, 2016, 1933—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1943-10-12. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Silpakorn, University and university.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Silpakorn University” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Silpakorn, University and university provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1209824. VIAF identifies the subject as 143106612. The Library of Congress control number is n83158877. Authority coordinates are 13.753, 100.490. 2 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1943, 2016 and 1933.

Critical limits

Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Silpakorn University”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Silpakorn University primary sources, Silpakorn University archive and Silpakorn research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Silpakorn University”?
  2. Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
  3. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Silpakorn University” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.