National Museum


National Museum the largest museum in Southeast Asia was e
stablished by King Rama IV in 1851 to keep his private antique collections.
- In 1874 the first public museum was open by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) in The Grand Palace, ground, the building namely "Sala Saha-Thai Samakom".
- In 1887 the museum was relocated to the area of the Crown Prince. King Rama VII then gave over all buildings in Front Palace (Wang Nah) to be the Bangkok Museum.

The visit  starts with a useful  introduction to Thai history.  Note the black-stone inscription form Sukhothai, the oldest-known record of the Thai alphabet.  Two large modern buildings house the main collection of  pre-Thailand Thai sculpture, as well as pieces from elsewhere in Asia. An important exhibit in the southern wing is one of the earliest images of the Buddha from Gandhara in India, clearly influenced by classical Greek sculpture.  A garage in a nearby building houses the collection of magnificent royal funeral chariots.  Vajayant Rajarot is still used even though it needs 300 men to pull it.





The largest museum in Southeast Asia, exhibition areas consisted of

- Gallery of Thai Nation
- History of Art and Archaeology in Thailand
- Fine Arts and Ethology

- Funeral Chariot Hall



Buddhai Sawan Chapel in the National Museum





Ayutthaya head of buddha


Lopburi Stone Lion


Colorful Bencharong Drum

Royal Funeral Chariots Gallery


Phra Buddha Sing



Buddhai Sawan Chapel
  • National Museum situated on Na Phra That Road, on the west side of Sanam Luang
  • Open on Wednesday to Sunday from 09:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
  • Admission fee : Thai 20 baht, Foreigner 200 baht
  • Prohibited : Taking photoes inside building.
  • Free English-language tours of the museum are given by National Museum volunteers on  Wednesdays (Buddhism) and Thursdays (Thai arts, religion and culture), and are also conducted in German on Thursdays, French tours (Buddhism, Pre-Thai and Thai Arts, Culture) are conducted each Wednesday and also each Thursday all the year and Japanese on Wednesdays, starting from 09:30 am - noon
  • Tel. (662) 224-1333     Fax. (662) 224-1404
  • Bus # 1, 3, 6, 9, 15, 19, 25, 30, 32, 33, 39, 43, 44, 47, 53, 59, 60, 64, 65, 70, 80, 82, 91, 123, 201, 203
    Air-Condition Bus # 1, 6, 7, 8, 12, 25, 38, 39, 44

  • for taxi  pai-phi-pit-ta-phan-stan-hang-chat
    Pai = go, go to        Museum = phi-pit-ta-phan, phi-pit-ta-phan-stan       National = chat, hang-chat (hang is conjunction word)
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