Jim Thompson House

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The Jim Thompson House is a museum in Bangkok. It is a complex of various old Thai structures that the American businessman Jim Thompson (designer) collected in from all parts of Thailand in the 1950's and 60's. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Thailand.

As Thompson was building his silk company, he also became a major collector of Southeast Asian art, which at the time was not well-known internationally. He built a large collection of Buddhist and secular art not only from Thailand but from Burma, Cambodia and Laos, frequently travelling to those countries on buying trips.

In 1958 he began what was to be the pinnacle of his architectural achievement, a new home to showcase his art collection. Formed from parts of six antique Thai houses, his home (completed in 1959) sits on a klong (canal) across from Bangkrua, where his weavers were then located. Most of the 19th century houses were dismantled and moved from Ayutthaya, but the largest - a weaver's house (now the living room) - came from Bangkrua.

[edit] Literature

• Lenzi, Iola (2004). Museums of Southeast Asia. Singapore: Archipelago Press, 200 pages. ISBN 981-4068-96-9. 

[edit] External links

• Jim Thompson House Homepage