Thailand - Chiang Rai - Black Museum

The Baandam Museum, also known as the Black Museum or Black House, is a kind of counterpoint to the nearby White Temple, which I posted about most recently. Again it is the artistic vision, albeit a darker one, of one man – Thai artist Thawan Duchanee who, like Chalermchai Kositpipat of the White Temple, was born in Chiang Rai and went on to achieve an international reputation. The complex contains several buildings of various styles and sizes, each filled with Thawan’s collections of paintings, carvings, sculptures, folk art, and, oddly, the remnants of dead animals (horns, skins, bones, shells, etc.). For us the Black Museum didn’t exhibit the same level of creativity and craftsmanship as the White Temple, which we saw earlier the same day, but it was well worth visiting.

The Black Museum


Inside the huge main building.


Door carving.


Chair made of horns. (There were a lot of these.)






Portrait of the artist Thawan Duchanee, who died in 2014 at the age of 74.
(photo by Deborah)





Some of the buildings are, uh, unusual.


Kind of creepy, but I like it.






Who wouldn't like a cozy crocodile skin underfoot?


Water spigot shaped like a water buffalo.
(photo by Deborah)






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