Bangkok National Museum
The Bangkok National Museum (, ) is the main branch museum of the National Museums in Thailand and also one of the largest museums in Southeast Asia. It features exhibits of Thai art and history. It occupies the former palace of the vice king (or Front Palace), set between Thammasat University and the National Theater, facing Sanam Luang. The museum was established and opened in 1874 by King Chulalongkorn to exhibit the royal collections of his father King Mongkut. Today the galleries contain exhibits covering the Thai History back to Neolithic times. The collection includes The King Ram Khamhaeng 's Inscription, which was inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme registered in 2003 in recognition of its significance. Other than preserving and displaying Thai artifacts dating from the Dvaravati, Srivijaya, to Sukhothai and Ayutthaya periods, the museum also displays extensive collections of regional Asian Buddhist Arts such as Indian Gandhara, Chinese Tang, Vietnamese Cham, Indonesian Java, and Cambodian Khmer arts. , the museum is nearing the end of a decade-long renovation of its exhibition rooms. Twelve halls have been revamped already. Four more halls will be renovated over the next three years. All will receive new interiors , better lighting, and computer-aided multimedia displays. History. Bangkok National Museum was originally established by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) around the collection of antiquities of his father King Mongkut (Rama IV). The National Museum is on the grounds of the former Wang Na, the "Front Palace" which was built for the vice king, a sort of crown prince (Thailand has no law of primogeniture. The king traditionally named his own successor, who was often his brother rather than his son). The post was eliminated by Chulalongkorn and the National Museum was set up in the former palace in 1887. In  1874, Chulalongkorn ordered the establishment of the first public museum at the Concordia Pavilion inside the Grand Palace to exhibit the collections of his father and other objects of general interest. The Concordia Museum was opened on 19 September 1874, and the Fine Arts Department has marked that day as the birth of the first national museum of Thailand. In 1887, Chulalongkorn ordered the museum moved from Concordia to the Front Palace, and called it "Wang Na Museum" or 'Front Palace Museum'. In 1926, it was named the "Bangkok Museum" and subsequently developed into the Bangkok National Museum, when it  came under the direction of the Fine Arts Department in 1934. Collections. The National Museum Bangkok currently houses three permanent exhibition galleries: The buildings. The museum has three main exhibition spaces: