Baan Hollanda
Located along the Chao Phraya river close to the Tambon Suan Phlu shipyard in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province in Thailand, Baan Hollanda or the Dutch Quarters is a significant site among the great ruins of the ancient capital of Ayutthaya.
Renamed as the Baan Hollanda Museum in 2013, the Dutch compound is a museum that showcases antiques and small information boards reciting the history when the Dutch made a former trade relationship with the Siam society in the 18th and 17th century.
The two-storey Baan Hollanda building is painted in brick red and bordered in white. Dutch were the only foreign nationals to have a longest permanent settlement in Ayutthaya back in the time, hence, the Baan Hollanda museum exhibit detailed past of the Thai-Dutch relationship. As for ages the city of Ayutthaya was a significant trade route between Asia and Europe.
Exhibits at Baan Hollanda
In 2004 when Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands visited Ayutthaya, she initiated help to support the establishment of Baan Hollanda information centre with an aim to educate and inform the Thais and the foreign travellers to understand how the Dutch lived and interacted with the Siamese society and how they established the Dutch retreats. This summit was documented and recorded and is now a display in the museum that appears first as you enter it.
Copies of old paintings depicting moments of operations and working of the Dutch United East India Company, which the Dutch dubbed as the VOC (short for Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) is another prominent exhibit at Baan Hollanda along with artefacts, antiques, and goods dating back to the trade era, period furniture, books and accessories etc. It also exhibits a show called “Dutch Water Showcase” where the water-management techniques practised by the Dutch back in that time are showcased.
Tips
1. If you are in Ayutthaya during the hot summer season or the humid rainy season, it is one of the ideal places to explore and see as it remains cold and pleasant inside.
2. Must eat Dutch snacks like bitterballen and kroket. The museum is all the more famous for the delish Dutch food.
How To Reach Baan Hollanda
Baan Hollanda is found next to the remains of the old Japanese quarter and Wat Phanan Choeng in the ancient city of Ayutthaya. It is along the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River, the Tambon Suan Phlu shipyard in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya District of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province in Thailand. You can reach Baan Hollanda by hiring a taxi or by the local tuk-tuk. If your tuk-tuk driver isn’t able to locate the museum as it is located a bit off the road alongside the river, then use the Japanese quarter as a landmark to communicate. Dutch settlements are situated just next to it.
