Jim Thompson House, Traditional house museum near National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand.
The Jim Thompson House is a museum complex made of six old teakwood houses arranged around a tropical garden and filled with artworks from several Southeast Asian countries. The houses stand on stilts and show typical elements of Thai wooden architecture with steep roofs and open verandas.
An American entrepreneur built the complex in 1959 from historic wooden houses he had dismantled and brought to Bangkok from several Thai provinces. After his disappearance in Malaysia in 1967, the house was turned into a public museum.
The name honors the American silk merchant who lived here and became known as a collector of Southeast Asian art. Visitors today see his furniture, textiles, and religious objects gathered from Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, and Laos.
The museum opens daily and offers guided tours in several languages that lead through the rooms and outdoor areas. Shoes must be removed at the entrance, and photography is not allowed inside the buildings.
The houses were positioned so that their entrances face east rather than north or south, contrary to Thai tradition. The owner disappeared during a trip to the Malaysian Cameron Highlands, and his fate has remained unknown to this day.
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