The Black House in Chiang Rai, Baan Dam is an unusual place to visit
We had heard good things about ‘The Black House’ in Chiang Rai, otherwise known as ‘Baan Dam’ in Thai. We missed out on it the last time we were up there on our first visa run.
The Black House
It is the proud work of Thawan Duchanee, a Chiang Rai born Thai artist who has developed a style of work representing the darkness in humanity. With lots of red and black hues, skins, skulls and various other animal parts made into eerie artwork.
The grounds span a large area and are filled with many interesting buildings, again adorned with lots of dead things, a whole elephant skeleton, an entire brown bear made into a bed sheet and a torture chamber to name just a few.
elephant skeleton
Skulls and Horns
Unlike the better known and popular Chiang Rai attraction, The White Temple, there is no religious meaning to The Black House.
It feels more like a museum interspersed with interesting architecture, sculptures and art.
It is also much less known to tourists than the White Temple and harder to find. When we were there, just a couple of other people wandered the grounds, cameras in hand.
Eden came with us, although she wasn’t permitted into the main building, she was free to stroll the rest of the grounds.
The Black House is open from 9am until 5pm but shuts for an hour at mid day, not sure of the reason for this, but we sat in the small cafe and refreshed ourselves with iced sodas while we waited, with Eden at our feet, making friends with the cafe owners little fluffy dog.
Opening times
My peach & honey iced tea
To find the Black House, head North on the Highway 1 from Chiang Rai, over the river, then past the international airport on the right and Chiang Rai Rajabhat University on the left hand side (CRU), look out for a purple sign on the left that says National Artist – Thawan Duchanee.
While following directions we actually missed this sign but after 10km done a u-turn and found the sign on the opposite side of the road.
Take a left at the wooden road sign which says 13. (this means Moo 13) keep a close eye out for it as we managed to miss this as well.
The turning
Moo 13
Then follow the road until you see a blue sign all written in Thai, take a left here and you’ve made it, you can’t miss the Black House!
Admission is free to the Black House.
Address: 414 Moo 13 Nanglae, Muang, Chiang Rai, 57100, located around 10km North of the city.
All in all, I highly recommend a visit to the Black House, especially if you’re all templed out and want to see something a bit different!
Our Google Map of Black House Baan Dam
View Black House, Baan Daam Chiang Rai in a larger map
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