National Museum Bangkok, Thailand

The National Museum Bangkok is situated at the Palace of the Front which was constructed in 1782, in the same period as the construction of the Grand Palace, during the early Bangkok period. In 1887, the king decided to move the Royal Museum, which had been at the Concordia Pavilion within the Grand Palace, to its present location at Siwamokkhaphiman Audience Hall, Buddhaisawan Chapel, and Issara Winitchai Throne Hall, where part of the old palace compound was. After Thailand changed its regime from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy, the government founded the Fine Arts Department in 1933. Since then the museum has been under the Fine Arts Department and was officially proclaimed as the national museum in 1934. Through the long history of 238 years of the historical place, and 133 years being a museum, the National Museum Bangkok has collected a long history and artifacts and preserves the traditional architecture of Palace. Nowadays, the museum has become a crucial heritage site. National Museum Bangkok presents the highlights of Thai heritage which covers parts of history, art and tradition. There are Thai people and international tourist of more than 400,000 visitors a year.

National Museum Bangkok, Thailand

Ms. Nitaya Kanokmongkol

Executive Director, Office of National Museums, Fine Arts Department, Ministry of Culture, Thailand

Ms. Nitaya KanokmongkolExecutive Director, Office of National Museums, Fine Arts Department, Ministry of Culture, Thailand

Ms. Nitaya Kanokmongkol is the Executive Director of Office of National Museums, Fine Arts Department, Ministry of Culture, Thailand. Ms. Nitaya Kanokmongkol got a bachelor's degree in Archaeology from Silapakorn University, Thailand in 1992, and a master’s degree in Art History from Silapakorn University, Thailand in 2005. Ms. Nitaya Kanokmongkol started her career as curator since 1995 at Fine Arts Department. She was an assistant curator of National Museums for 8 years, and then became the curator in charge of the establishment project of the National Museum of Ethnology for 8 years. From 2011 to 2019, she was the senior curator who was responsible as Museum Director of four museums: Mai National Museum (2011-2015), Ramkhamhang National Museum (2015-2016), National Gallery (2016-2017), and the National Museum Bangkok (2018-2019). In 2019, she moved forward to be the Executive Director of the Office of National Museums where handles the missions of Fine Arts Department in antiques conservation, antiques controlling, Central Storage, collection research, museum development, museum network, international museum cooperation, and management of National Museums in central department such as National Museum Bangkok and National Gallery and so on. Ms. Nitaya Kanokmongkol’s research experiences and specialization include historical archaeology with focus on Davaravati and Lanna period, Ethnic Groups in Thailand, Buddhism Arts in Thailand and Museology with focus on interpretation for exhibition, education program and local museum study.