Ubon Ratchathani National Museum

5 December 2007. The Ubon Ratchathani National Museum is in a beautiful building—wooden floors, a central atrium (with garden), off-white stucco exterior, and red diamond-tile roof. Built in 1918, it used to be Ubon’s City Hall, but was later restored by Ubon's Fine Arts Dept., and HRH Princess Sirindhorn inaugurated it as a museum in 1989.

The back entrance to Ubon Ratchathani's National Museum faces Thung Sri Muang Park, and is normally locked. The main entrance faces Khuan Thani Road. The museum is closed on Monday and Tuesday. No shoes past the information counter.

Photos are not allowed within the museum itself (there is a "no cameras" icon on the left past the ticket/information counter). We didn't see that sign, as we proceeded straight ahead to a "wat" gallery, which included this seated Buddha image. The statue is finely made, with engraving on the arms and chest. The incense and candles were never lighted, so we guess is a "display" gallery.

The display also included another bronze seated Buddha statue on a carved and inlaid, gilt-decorated altar, or table. That image is also very finely made. This gallery has a most unusual wall-hanging...a tapestry that winds high around the 4 walls, even overlapping a bit at the end. It is gorgeous, but so high up, it's difficult to examine closely.

In this photo, our nephew,"See" (Rasta's son) is beside a bronze kettle drum, that dates to 2000 - 2500 years ago. I had to look twice at the placard--but it is truly thousands of years old! In workmanship, it is the equal of many artifacts that accompany the King Tutankhamun ("King Tut") Exhibition traveling around the USA [that's "King Tut and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs"]. The drum was found in Ubon.

In the Ubon gallery, there are informational "text" placards, and a replica of the scripture hall (the actual library is much more elaborate, and located at Wat Thung Sri Muang, 3 blocks away). There is also a "geology gallery" that includes some neat rock and semi-precious stone samples.

One of our favorites is the "pre-history gallery" (where the bronze drum resides). Here are some neat, ancient pots and pot shards. A huge painted pot (mainly intact, and found in Ubon) dates to 2000 - 3000 years old--the paint decoration has faded, but is still visible.

Also on display is a unique "Ardhanarisvara," a stone carved figure of Siva mixed with Uma--it dates to the 9th century, and is extremely rare (a picture of the figure is on the museum brochure, as is the bronze kettle drum). A docent sees the camera flash, and tells us of the "no pictures" policy, so we stow the camera until we're outside. We continue to the gallery on cloth making, and then folk music (where a high-quality recording can be played).


At the exterior display area, See stands in front of an antique road grader. We tell him that John Deere, where our son (his cousin) works, at one time made even more massive road graders, and he is visibly impressed.

The exterior pavilion also has an antique wooden boat on display.


This photo is of a "sema"--a stone border or boundary marker; a couple sema are on display. This sema depicts the "leaf'" shape that gives it its name (note the stylized carved center stem).

All-in-all, the Ubon Ratchathani National Museum, while small, gives a nice overview of the area's history. Some of its holdings are remarkable, and showcase world-class craftmanship.

A few more photos are at our web album at this location:
http://picasaweb.google.com/NewtSea/UbonRatchathaniNationalMuseum

If you enjoy museums, we'd also recommend the Ubon Cultural Center's exhibits (across from Rajabhat University; many of the Cultural Center's historical placards are in English and Thai).