Bangkok - Museums

The National Museum in Bangkok, formerly an 18th century palace, is a short walk from the Grand Palace but a quiet haven compared to the wall to wall crowds at the palace. It is a vast complex with many buildings (14 according to the brochure) although some of them were closed for renovations or maintenance when we visited, there were still a lot of things to see with close to 500 different exhibits.  Some of the buildings themselves are historical monuments, including a traditional Thai teakwood house (The Red House).

I am showcasing some of my favourites among the exhibits in the photos below plus a few of the elaborate buildings on the property. We enjoyed the museum very much and spent a couple of hours there. When we decided to return to our hotel, we hailed a cab off the street and was charged an unreasonably high fare for what must have been a 15 minute journey - because we were in close proximity to the king's crematorium lineups, the cab driver took advantage and we made the mistake of not negotiating a fare before we got in. He claimed that he doesn't use the metre on weekends!  Lesson learned.


We also visited the Royal Barge National Museum on our first day in Bangkok but there was a flash flood leading to flooding at the museum - the one photo I took was from the outside. We visited instead a vast storage facility where some of the festival barges were housed.

One museum I wish I had time to visit is the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles inside the Grand Palace. We didn't have time to visit when we were there but it would have been a worthwhile trip looking at beautiful Thai textiles.  Another time...

My favourite piece in the National Museum - I love the expression on this buddha with the broken head - it gave me an immense feeling of peace and serenity. (13th century bronze from Ayutthaya)

The main museum gallery

Relief of Bodhi Tree from the 15th century

Thai female musicians excavated from a stupa, 7th century

Dharmachakra Buddhist Wheel of Law

An antique teak litter

Mother of pearl inlaid cabinet

Entrance to the Buddhaisawan Chapel, guarded by demons (below)

Phra Buddha Sihing, the second holiest image after the Emerald Buddha in Thailand is housed in the Buddhaisawan Chapel with its red coffered ceiling. It is supposed to bring its owner good luck.  King Rama I brought it back from Chiangmai and housed it in his private chapel.  It is still taken out to the streets at New Year's for Thai people to sprinkle water on it as a merit-making gesture (Scrumpdillyicious blog)

Red Pavilion from the old palace on the Museum grounds

The ceiling of the Pavilion

The Red House - red teak house in the traditional Thai style

Gable of a second pavilion on the Museum grounds

Lacquered entrance to an exhibit hall that was part of an old palace building (part of National Museum)

Lacquered shutters

Royal ceremonial chariots used exclusively for funerals housed in a separate building inside the National Museum complex

Royal Barge Museum

Flooded museum grounds

Barge garage

Decorated barge, one of many in the storage building

Next post: Summer Palace and Ayutthaya