National Museum of Royal Barges

Why go

The Fine Arts Department's virtual-museum history says the royal ceremonial barges, 52 in all, are kept in three places, and that this museum, a former boat dock made into a national museum in 1974, displays four royal barges, including the Suphannahong and the Anantanakharat, and four barges with carved figureheads. It says the others are kept at the royal boat dock at Tha Wasukri beside the National Library and at a Royal Thai Navy dock. A Department article on the Suphannahong says the present barge was completed in 1911, named after an Ayutthaya-period royal barge, and is 46.15 metres long. This record is the museum, not the barges as objects and not the Royal Barge Procession, which is an event. No visiting rule from the museum's own pages was read.