Visiting The Bangkok Folk Museum

The Bangkok Folk Museum also known as the Bangkokian Museum is another welcoming and quiet attraction close to one of the main tourist areas in Bangkok.

The museum provides an insight of how a middle class Thai persons home looked and functioned around the second world war period….

Visiting The Museum And Its History

The museum, now managed by the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority was originally a house the Surawadee family lived in.

To keep the history simple….the owner wanted the home that was constructed in 1937 (1st building) to be used as a museum which the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority has managed since October 2001.

The houses were donated to the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority based on an agreement that the Daughter (Waraporn) of the Surawadee family could live in one of the houses.

There are four buildings with two floors within the grounds, of which three can be viewed by visitors.

On arrival: When you arrive at the museum you will be asked by the security guard to sign in a book, however, they will not charge you because the entrance fee is free. It’s worth noting that it’s easy to walk straight past the venue….so do look out for the signs (see pictures).

Sign Outside

Entrance And Signing In Desk

As you enter the entrance (see picture below) you will sign in on the right and be greeted by a pleasant garden, then further up the garden on the right someone from the office will offer assistance. They are very friendly!

The Veranda Area

You will get taken to a small veranda after taking off your shoes which was a great place for me to have lunch after the visit (I took my own snacks).

The Thais (all staff) sitting at the other table were very friendly and offered me food to eat with them after the visit but,– I declined because I didn’t want to disturb them and I really wanted to eat my sausage rolls I bought earlier.

The friendly assistant introducing me to the 1st Building

The first building, constructed in 1937 is where the Surawadee family used to stay. The downstairs has a living room, dining room and another room which has been used as a bedroom at one point and Dr Francis’s bookkeeping room at another.

Upstairs has three bedrooms that were used by the Surawadee family and another room which is called the ancestor room.

Here’s a few pictures I took inside the first building…

As you can see most of the furniture and household items are very similar to what would have been found in a western home, within that period.

Let’s take a quick peek upstairs (1st building)….

2nd Building

This building was constructed in 1929 at Thung Maha Mek, Soi Ngam Duplee (Sathorn Bangkok). The house never became a family dwelling because the husband of Archan Waraporn’s mother (Dr Francis) became sick and passed away…

The house was moved and constructed at the Folk Museum but was scaled down because the museum area was too small.

Entrance to 2nd building

There wasn’t much to view downstairs. Upstairs has a bedroom section and a type of examination room that I would have thought was set up for Dr Francis.

Dr Francis Christian

3rd Building

The downstairs of the 3rd building is used for displaying various items which includes the title deeds for the house, grandmothers merit set, pet houses used by the family and many other items worth taking a look at.

The upstairs is used for exhibition about Bangkok and it’s people in the past, with images and writings on display boards giving visitors information.

Entrance to 3rd building

Here are some of the displays that you’ll see….