Bangkok · Museum in a former home with an art collection
Jim Thompson House Museum lets you visit the home of Thai silk entrepreneur Jim Thompson and the Asian art he collected. Six teak houses stand in a garden beside a canal in central Bangkok. It suits visitors who want to see traditional Thai house architecture and historic artworks close up amid the shopping malls and tall buildings around Siam.
You visit the main house with a guide who explains the building and collection. This is different from a shop where you browse silk products. Visit with a friend who enjoys architecture or art, or add a historic house to your Bangkok itinerary. See the wooden houses together with the garden around them.
The pin marks the place, not necessarily its entrance, ticket office or vehicle drop-off point.
6 Kasem San 2 Alley, Rama I Road, Wang Mai, Pathum Wan, Bangkok
6 Soi Kasemsan 2, Rama 1 Road, Wang Mai, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
From Exit 1 at National Stadium BTS Station on the Silom Line, enter Kasem San 2 Alley off Rama I Road. Set Jim Thompson House Museum as your destination. To leave, return to National Stadium Station and take the BTS.
Enter Jim Thompson House Museum as the destination. The museum is in Kasem San 2 Alley. Show the address above or the Thai name to your driver.
Children aged 0–9 enter free when accompanied by an adult. Bring an ID or passport that confirms age for the 10–21 fare.
Jim Thompson bought old houses from different parts of Thailand and moved them to Bangkok. The houses were dismantled and transported, then reassembled by carpenters from Ayutthaya and joined into one residence of six houses. Work began in 1958 and was completed the following year. Thompson lived here himself.
Across the canal in front of the house is Ban Krua, a weaving community. A garden surrounds the wooden houses, so alongside the art indoors, you can also see the garden and views around the canal.
Jim Thompson was a silk entrepreneur, an art collector and someone who studied architecture. In the late 1950s, he collected Asian art and antiques and decided to build a house to hold his collection. Here you can see the wooden houses where he lived together with the artworks displayed inside.
The same complex also has an art centre and other exhibitions and shops. These are separate spaces from the main museum house, and a ticket to the main house does not necessarily include entry to every other exhibition in the complex.
The collection includes Buddhist sculpture, Thai paintings, blue-and-white ceramics from China and Annam, and Benjarong ceramics made for the Thai royal family. You can view artworks from different periods and regions in one place.
Benjarong ceramics include bowls painted with flowers and animals in several colours, while blue-and-white ceramics have blue patterns on a white ground. If you are interested in the collection, you can preview images and descriptions through the foundation’s online exhibition.
Show your ticket to staff, then enter the main house with your guide. Before going inside, remove your shoes and leave bags larger than 20 cm in a locker.
The visit involves going up and down several sets of stairs. There is no lift, so it is difficult to tour the entire main house by wheelchair or stroller. If you are visiting with someone who finds stairs difficult, discuss beforehand whether the main house tour will work for them.
You may take photos inside the main house, but flash, selfies, personal portrait photography and video recording are prohibited.
The entire museum is a no-smoking area. All smoking devices, including e-cigarettes, are prohibited.
Yes. You can visit by buying a ticket on site without booking in advance. The museum says same-day on-site admission operates even when online bookings are sold out. To buy online, use the ticket seller linked from the Admission page on the museum’s website.
Yes. The museum lists guided visits in Thai, English, French, Chinese and Japanese; Korean is not listed. Visits to the main house are accompanied by a guide.
Photography inside the main house is allowed, but flash, selfies, personal portraits and video recording are prohibited. Remove your shoes before entering; bags larger than 20 cm must be left in a locker.
The main house is a wooden structure with several staircases and no lift. It is difficult to move through the entire main house with a pushchair or wheelchair.
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Sharing image credit: Don Ramey Logan · Main House of Jim Thompson photo Don Ramey Logan.jpg / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
