The Division of Culture was established in 1938 under the Department of Fine Arts. In 1952 it became the Ministry of Culture with the Department of Fine Arts as a subordinate agency. In 1958 it was renamed the Division of Culture and placed under the aegis of the Ministry of Education. In 2002, it was re-established as the Ministry of Culture. In July 2019, Ittipol Khunpluem, a former mayor of Pattaya, was appointed Minister of Culture.
Thailand's military junta was criticized for a history textbook it ordered written by the Fine Arts Department of the ministry. The book, History of the Thai Nation, claims that the military has established "true democracy" in Thailand and has eliminated corruption. In 2015 the ministry's Fine Arts Department published History of the Thai Nation at the order of the National Council for Peace and Order. The NCPO wanted a new history book covering the past 400 years to foster "national reconciliation". The book was written in two months. On page 195, the text reads, "Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha as Prime Minister has carried out a policy of reforming the country, reforming politics to be truly a democracy, eliminating corruption and using moral principles to lead the country to be truly a democracy." On page 197 it goes on to say, "After the coup d'etat, Gen Prayut became prime minister. He has tried to develop the country and reform Thai politics into a real democracy. Gen Prayut has used moral principles and stamped out corruption to return democracy to the country." The book maintains that the NCPO was forced to stage the 2014 coup to end the political chaos caused by the civilian government of the time. Ten thousand copies of the book were published at a cost of one million baht. Twenty copies autographed by Prayut were sold at the launch. In November 2017, the prime minister ordered the Fine Arts Department to send 100 copies of the book to each of Thailand's provinces. A leading critic of the junta charged that, "The content of the book is misleading and it will lead to the distortion of the country's history ." The culture ministry plans to translate the book to English for distribution to Thai embassies worldwide.
