Ancient City Looking Back
The Ancient City, or Muang Boran, was created in 1963 in Samut Prakan as a large open-air museum designed to preserve and showcase Thailand’s architectural and cultural heritage in one place.
It was founded by Thai businessman and arts patron, Lek Viriyaphant, who wanted to protect historical knowledge and make it easier for future generations to learn from it.
How It Began
The project started as a smaller idea: a miniature map of Thailand with important landmarks marked on it, but it grew into something much larger.
Over time, it became a full museum park with reconstructed buildings, replicas, and symbolic architectural works inspired by real sites across the country.
Many of the structures were created with historical guidance, including input associated with Thailand’s National Museum, to improve accuracy.
What It Represents
The museum was built to show the development of Thai civilization across different eras, from prehistoric times through major historical periods such as Dvaravati, Sukhothai, Ayutthaya, Thonburi, and Rattanakosin.
The layout is meant to let visitors “walk through history” as they move between zones and monuments. In that sense, it is not just a collection of monuments but an educational landscape about Thai identity, art, religion, and statecraft.
The park or rather the world’s largest open air museum, is incredible, very well known, and not normally a place Unknown Thailand would post about, simply because it isn’t unknown.
However, Before it became a major educational and tourist center, I used to visit it quite often, at a time when the admission fee was 50 Baht and the roads were all red dirt tracks.
I remember watching artisans carving wood and stone decorations for renovations and repairs, and especially remember a huge wooden model building being put together, which would later be the basis for the design of the Sanctuary of Truth in Pattaya.
The thing I loved about it so much at that time was that hardly anyone knew about it, so it was often almost empty, like being alone in a serene living history book.
So What’s The Point Of This Post?
These photos, a bit old, a bit faded, were taken in the late 1980s – early 1990s, and show a bit of what this wonderful museum was like in those days. That in itself is a bit of history about history…
If you haven’t already visited Ancient City, you really should. It’ll give you a taste of culture and history from all over the country in a great environment.
Mind you, admission is quite a lot more than the 50 Baht I used to pay, but there are shuttle buses to take you around, bikes to rent, or you can take your car in. Avoid public holidays and weekends, and be prepared for bus loads of school kids sometimes on educational visits.
Getting There:
From central Bangkok take the BTS Sukumvit Line to the last stop called Kheha, exit the station and look for Songtaew number 36. (A Songtaew is bus service operated by a pickup truck). Tell the driver you want to go to Muang Boran (Ancient City). They will drop you by a bridge, pay the driver after you get off and walk over the bridge and you’ll be there.
Where do you want to go next?