Description of the attraction
The largest Asian museum is located in Bangkok. This is the National Museum of Thailand, the collection of which is kept in three buildings.
The exposition of the museum is located in the palace of the Viceroy, which in the past belonged to the heir to the Thai throne. When this position was abolished in the middle of the 19th century, the building was empty for some time, and then transformed for the needs of the museum. The palace complex includes three buildings. An exhibition in the Sivamokhaphiman Ceremonial Hall is dedicated to the history of Thailand. There is also a pearl of the museum's collection - a stele with a text in Thai, dated to the 13th century and considered the first example of Thai writing. Here you can also see a selection of bronze, ceramic, marble sacred sculptures brought from different parts of Thailand and neighboring countries, jewelry, masks and a large collection of funeral carts. One of them is surprising, which weighs 40 tons and reaches 13 meters in length. It took the efforts of 300 people to move it.
Part of the collection of the National Museum is housed in the wooden Red House, transferred here from the royal residence in Tonburi. The house is decorated in the style of old traditional Bangkok dwellings. It contains some items that were once the property of the ruler Sri Suriendra.
The third building, which is part of the National Museum complex, is the Buddhaisavan Temple. It is located near the Wang Na palace and is a large pavilion richly decorated with frescoes on religious themes, the main treasure of which is one of the shrines of the Thais - the figure of Sihing Buddha, carved, as local legend tells it, in the 13th century in Sri Lanka. In fact, it was created much later. Thai people believe that the statue can bestow good luck on those who ask for it.
