Prasart Museum is in a private house on the eastern edge of the city -this is an unusual open-air exhibition of traditional Asian buildings, collected and reassembled by wealthy entrepreneur and art lover Mr. Prasart.
The place is rarely visited by mass tourists, partly because of it's intentionally limited for number of visitors. The admission is by appointment only, and usually requires one to two days notice, but it makes a pleasant day out and is worth the effort.
Set in a gorgeously lush tropical garden, it comprises about a dozen replicas of traditional buildings, including a golden teak palace inspired by the royal residence now housed at the National Museum, a Chinese temple and water garden, a Khmer shrine, a Sukhothai Period teak library set over a lotus pond, and a European-style mansion, fashionable with Bangkok royalty in the late nineteenth century. Some of these structures have been assembled from the ruins of buildings found all over Asia, but there is no attempt at purist authenticity - the aim is to give a flavor of architectural styles, not an exact reproduction.
9 Krung Thep Kritha 4
A LaneKrung Thep Kritha Road
Huamark Sub-District
Bangkapi
Bangkok
Thailand 10240
Tel: 66 2 379 3601
"There's a thin line between passion and obsession. In a dusty shophouse on Wong Sawang Road, picture frames are piled on tables and hung on walls, and miscellaneous items are placed on the floor and poke out from a glass cupboard. Only the sign outside, written in Thai, indicates that this is a matchbox museum.
