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| 2 Prannok Road, Siriraj Sub-District, Bangkoknoi District, Bangkok 10700 |
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| Information |
Siriraj Hospital and Siriraj Medical Museum
The Siriraj Hospital is the oldest hospital and medical school in Thailand. It also is one of Thailand's largest hospitals. The hospital was founded by Chulalongkorn the Great (King Rama V) in response to epidemics and the need for health care for the poor. The hospital is named after the king's infant son, Prince Siriraj Kakuttaphan, who died from dysentery while the hospital was being constructed. The hospital rapidly advanced from its start in 1888, incorporating western medicine practices along with the traditional medicines of the period in Thailand.
The hospital is also home to multiple museums. Originally housed separately throughout the hospital's complex of buildings, the museums were consolidated into one area on August 20, 2004. The museums are now collectively referred to as the Siriraj Medical Museum, but still also maintain their individual names which are listed below.
The Songkran Niyomsane Museum of Forensic Medicine
This museum is dedicated to forensic science. Exhibits include murder weapons and evidence collected from crime scenes (including a blood-stained T-shirt worn by a victim murdered with a sex toy). Other displays include preserved sections of human skin bearing tattoos, photos of crime scenes and preserved corpses (and body parts) of both criminals and murder victims. This includes a severed head of a cadaver which has been cross-sectioned in order to demonstrate the path of a bullet passing through a human skull and the damage it causes during its passage. Displays also show the effects of accidental deaths as well as murders.
See Uey Sae Ung
The mummified corpse of See Uey Sae Ung (labeled as Si Quey on his display case and sometimes also referred to as Si-oui or Si Ouey depending on who is writing about him), the most notorious serial killer in Thai history is on display in the Songkran Niyomsane Museum of Forensic Medicine. A Chinese immigrant who moved to Thailand in 1944; See Uey suffocated and then ate the hearts and livers of over a half dozen male children. He apparently believed that the practice made him stronger, healthier, and by some accounts, immortal.
He was captured and executed by hanging in the 1950s. After an autopsy, the cadaver was filled and covered with paraffin wax to preserve it. In recent years, the museum has added a film educating visitors about the story of See Uey. Over the years, See Uey has become a bogeyman for Thai children, as parents threaten misbehaving kids with a visit from his ghost. The case of See Uey Sae Ung was also adapted into the 2004 Thai thriller Zee-Oui.
The Mysterious Death of King Rama VIII
Also on display in the forensics museum are the instruments used in the autopsy of Ananda Mahidol (King Rama VIII) as well as the gowns worn by the attending physicians. Ananda was the grandson of King Chulalongkorn, who founded the Siriraj Hospital.
On the morning of June 9, 1946, Ananda Mahidol was found in his bedroom dead from a gunshot wound to the head. The young man of 21 years had not even been crowned king yet at the time of his death. The brother who succeeded him to the throne gave Ananda the title of King Rama VIII after his demise. Ananda Mahidol was popular with the people of his country despite his young age. His death came as a great shock.
At points Ananda's death has been theorized as accidentally self-inflicted, suicide, and an assassination. This later theory would lead to the trial and execution of three men, though it is widely believed that the case against them was baseless. Due to nature of Ananda's head wound, the position of his body and the weapon found at the scene, it is also apparently highly unlikely that the wound was self-inflicted. Theorized suspects for this ultimately unsolved crime include a Japanese intelligence officer, two politicians of the time and Ananda's own brother, Bhumibol Adulyadej, the current king of Thailand. There is no solid evidence pointing to any particular person as being responsible for the death though.
The death of Ananda Mahidol led to a number of the exhibits in the forensics museum. Forensics researchers fired bullets into the heads of medical cadavers to examine the wounds for comparison purposes while trying to determine the nature of Ananda's death. Skulls used in this study are on display in the museum.
Songkran Niyomsane
The skeleton of Songkran Niyomsane, the museum's founder and namesake, is on display in the museum. He continues to teach future students even in death. He is also apparently not the only staff member to end up part of the exhibits.
The Congdon Anatomical Museum
This museum is named after American Doctor Edgar Davidson Congdon, whose anatomical work at Siriraj Hospital in the 1920s actually began the collection that eventually led to the creation of this particular museum on April 17, 1948. Exhibits include preserved dissections of the human body to show the nervous system, vascular system, musculature and other aspects of the human anatomy. There are also displays featuring stillborn infants with congenital birth defects, including numerous conjoined twins.
Ouay Ketusingh Museum of History of Thai Medicine
This museum displays traditional folk medicines of Thailand. It was founded in 1979 by its namesake, Professor Ouay Ketusingh. Exhibits include displays of herbal medicines and dioramas depicting use of traditional medicine practices.
Ellis Pathological Museum
Named in honor of American pathologist Professor A.G. Ellis (who worked at the hospital in the 1920s through the 1930s), this museum features specimens of diseases both currently active in the modern world as well as those that have been wiped out by modern medicine. More than 4,000 specimens display diseases ranging from typhoid to cancer. The museum also has examples of historical laboratory tools on display.
The Parasitology Museum
This museum is dedicated to increasing knowledge of parasitic lifeforms (such as pinworms, tapeworms and roundworms) and the health hazards that come with them. The displays demonstrate the life-cycle of various parasites as well as how best to avoid contracting them. The museum was founded by Doctor Vichit Chaiyaporn in 1970.
There are also displays of other hazardous/venomous insects and wildlife, such as mosquitoes or king cobras. The museum also displays a two and half foot wide scrotum removed from a man afflicted with elephantiasis. The disease was brought on by one of the parasitic worms that can be contracted through a mosquito bite. Perhaps one should not dismiss the dangers of the mosquito in comparison to the venom of a cobra.
Sood Sangvichien Prehistoric Museum & Laboratory
Founded in 1972 by Thai Doctor Sood Sangvichien; this museum features stone age tools and artifacts as well as skeletal remains of ancient human ancestors. Displays cover the evolution of man both in physiology as well as technology over the ages.
Veekit Veeranuvati Museum
This is a collection of equipment and books gathered together over roughly four decades by the founder of the Gastroenterological Association of Thailand, Doctor Veekit Veeranuvati.
Great Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake
In recent years, the Siriraj Medical Museum has also added a wing dealing with the aftermath of the tsunami that hit Thailand (and other coastal countries) on December 26, 2004 as a result of the Great Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake. More than 8,000 deaths are estimated to have occurred in Thailand alone from the tsunami, with more than 230,000 estimated for all the affected countries.
The tsunami display at the museum demonstrates the techniques used by forensic teams to identify the dead in the aftermath of the disaster. It also features displays that inform on how to improve your odds of survival during a tsunami.
A Tradition of Respect and Learning
It is not unusual for a tourist visiting the museums to witness gifts or tributes left next to displays. Visitors and students both are known to leave offerings of flowers, wreaths, coins, toys and food by displays featuring cadavers or skeletons. Medical students are in the habit of referring to the deceased on display affectionately as "Head-Master" out of respect for what the dead can teach them. Indeed, an even more common sight in the museum is students with sketchbooks in hand, creating anatomical sketches to aid in their learning.
Days and hours of operation can be obtained from the web site below. |
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| User Trips |
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| Related Sites |
Siriraj Medical Museum
The official web site for the collective of medical museums in Bangkok, Thailand. |
Corkscrew-Balloon: Si Quey's Place
Corkscrew-Balloon's page featuring many photos of the Siriraj Medical Museum. |
Thai Oasis: Siriraj Medical Museum
The Thai Oasis web page for the Siriraj Medical Museum. |
YouTube: Museum of Death, Bangkok
Footage taken at the Siriraj Medical Museum. |
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| See Also on TheCabinet.com |
| Blog: The Siriraj Museum (08/20/09) |
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Travelers' Tales Thailand: True Stories |
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To Asia with Love: A Connoisseurs' Guide to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. |
The Revolutionary King |
The Zee-Oui The Man Eater |
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