Khon Kaen National Museum

Khon Kaen National Museum

Established	1972
Location	Lang Sun Ratchakan Road, Nai Muang, Khon Kaen, Thailand
Type	National Museum

The Khon Kaen National Museum was opened by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej on the 20th of December, 1972. Most of the exhibitions are concerned with history, art, and archaeology. Besides the museum's static collection, temporary exhibitions are set up on a rotational basis throughout the year.

Exhibitions on the geography, history, archaeology, culture, and ethnology of the museum are arranged as follows:

• The Geography and Geology of Pre-historic Period
• Settlements, utensils, burial rituals, major archaeological findings
• Ancient cities and communities
• Period of Recorded History
• Dvaravati Culture
• Bai sema boundary markers, religion and beliefs, costumes, script, architecture, votive tablets, archaeological objects taken from the Muang Fa Daet Song Yang excavation site, Kamalasai District Kalasin Province.
• Khmer or Lopburi Culture
• Ancient cities and communities, religion and beliefs, ceramics Thai-Lao culture
• Religion and beliefs, utensils used in daily life
• Evolution of art in Thailand Muang Khon Kaen
• Traces of the past, history of the city, way of life, folk culture.

The Khon Kaen National Museum has gathered its collection from important archaeological sites within North and Eastern Thailand (in particular, finds from Ban Chiang in Udon Thani province, which has been given UNESCO heritage site status). For a museum of its size, it has an extensive scope. Issan (or northeastern Thailand) once home to a few ancient civilizations, including those of the Ban Chiang, Dvaravati, Lopburi and Khmer. Khon Kaen has played an important role in the area’s history. The museum exhibits a range of architectural items, including: marble slabs (or Sema); ancient bas relief; stuccos and ancient tools. Amongst its other exhibits are: dinosaur fossils; human skeletal remains; ancient musical instruments along with displays of pottery. There is also a variety of other miscellaneous items, probably, the most important of these being the Buddha images.