This shows that many people care about the small yet valuable museum, and that they appreciate the determination of the elderly woman who gifted her elegant decades-old mansion to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) so it could be transformed into the museum.

Located in Bang Rak district, the museum provides a glimpse into Bangkok’s old ways of life. Inside are home appliances that were used in bygone days.

The Bangkokian Museum has been at risk of disappearing if a high-rise building is constructed on an adjacent plot of land.

Assoc Prof Waraporn Suravadee, the donor of the mansion and now chairwoman of the Insart-Sa-ang Foundation, said over the weekend: “The owner of the next plot has had a plan to put up an eight-storey building. Construction on that scale may threaten the structure of the museum, on top of destroying the landscape of its neighbourhood.”

In a bid to save the 70-year-old house, Waraporn kicked off a fund-raising drive this month to buy the adjacent block from its owner.

“I hope the campaign can raise about Bt10 million by September 2,” the 81-year-old woman said.

The adjacent land comes with a price tag of Bt40 million but Waraporn has already paid Bt30 million out of her own pocket.

“To protect the Bangkokian Museum, we will need just Bt10 million more,” she said at the start of the campaign.

Her plea for help has met a warm response from the public. Donations have flowed in every day.

The donations jumped from about Bt298,000 on July 17 to Bt818,000 on Wednesday, Bt2.19 million on Saturday and Bt2.68 million yesterday.

Most supporters have given from Bt100 to Bt1,000, but many small contributions could make a big |difference in the end.

A company employee in her 40s said she had donated Bt500 for the cause because she wished to help conserve such a museum.

“I’ve seen too many old mansions in Bangkok being brought down already,” she said.

Another donor, in his 20s, said he felt inspired by Waraporn and wanted to help however he could.

Waraporn, after all, has not received help from the BMA, which is supposed to preserve and properly fund the museum.

“To say the truth, the BMA has not even provided any budget for the museum’s management for six months already,” she said. “I gave my home to the BMA to convert it into the city’s folk museum like many other cities around the world have.

“I hoped that the BMA would take good care of this precious property and make it into a good museum for the people to learn about our city’s folk history, but in the end, the BMA disappointed me,” she said.

Vallop Suwandee, chairman of advisers to the governor of Bangkok, admitted that the BMA did not pay the budget for the museum, but said it was because of a clerical error at the district office, as the museum was under Bang Rak district’s responsibility.

Supawadee Sitthikornpaibol, director of the Bang Rak District Office, refused to answer a question about the museum’s budget problem when contacted by The Nation.

On the fund-raising campaign to buy the plot adjacent to the museum, Vallop said the BMA did not have the money to spend on an unimportant issue such expanding the museum’s land, as City Hall had many more important projects to handle.

Waraporn is now keeping her fingers crossed that she will be able to raise enough funds to acquire the adjacent lot by the September 2 deadline.

The new land would be turned into a green space and parking lot for the museum’s visitors, she said

Donations are welcome via Waraporn’s Siam Commercial Bank accounts No 407-061757-2 and 468-058018-1.