That is why we should pay attention to the Culture Ministry's programme this year to mark the 110 years of diplomatic relations between Thailand and Russia.

When the Culture Ministry embarked on the mission to host a photo exhibition to mark the 110th anniversary at the Thailand Cultural Centre, I followed the news attentively.

Culture Ministry permanent secretary Vira Rojpojchan-arat's comment that more than 100 photos tell how the relationship between the two countries has developed caught my attention, so a few days after it opened on June 6, I visited the show.

To my amazement, it was rather small, with fewer than 100 photos exhibited.

Surprising me more was the fact that photos of the countries' royalty - supposed to be the highlight - accounted for a very small proportion of the images. I saw fewer than 10 photos of King Rama V with Russia's Nicholas II. The best that these photos could do was confirm that the two countries' ties really started in 1891 when the future Nicholas II visited Siam during the reign of King Chulalongkorn.

What about the rest? They are photos of the Russian resort city Sochi, Russian athletes, Russian soldiers in a joint parachute training exercise in Thailand, the Kremlin, and a palace in St Petersburg. All of them are in basic wooden frames hanging around the bare room. It could take you less than half an hour to see the photos and read the short, non-descriptive captions.

To my amazement, aside from the photos of the royalty, the only one that helped me understand more about Russian culture was a shot of children in swimsuits taking a shower on the snowy ground. The caption reads "Children take shower to prevent cold".

What surprised me more is the way the Culture Ministry handled the exhibition. I was there on Sunday. Though the exhibition was open until 8pm, nobody was there. The officials had gone home and the air-conditioner was off. As there was no concert that day, the main entrance was closed at 6pm and you had to let the security officer know you wanted to enter via the back gate.

I can't help feeling disappointed. Half an hour at the exhibition did not help me understand Russia much more. I wonder if we gave Russia about Bt200 million to renovate a palace in St Petersburg, would the exhibition be better?

achara_d@nationgroup.com