Chiang Mai City Arts and Cultural Centre Museum

Address: Three Kings / Old City area, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand

Chiang Mai City Arts and Cultural Centre is a civic museum in Chiang Mai’s old city that presents the history, culture and arts of Chiang Mai and the wider Lanna region.

The centre’s displays include models, artifacts and multimedia presentations that cover urban history, traditional crafts and local customs. Short audio-visual programmes are used to summarise key periods and themes for visitors.

The building is a renovated, public-facing exhibition space located inside Chiang Mai’s old city close to the moat and main pedestrian routes.

It is commonly used by visitors as an orientation stop before exploring nearby temples and markets.

• Exhibits: Housed in a restored building in Chiang Mai’s old city, the centre provides chronological exhibits on the city’s history, culture and crafts with audio-visual displays.
• Location: Easy to reach on foot from central old-city gates and the moat, making it a practical introduction to Chiang Mai’s Lanna history.

The Chiang Mai City Arts & Cultural Centre is located inside Chiang Mai’s Old City on Ratchadamnoen Road near the Three Kings Monument and Tha Phae Gate. It’s about a 5-10 minute walk (roughly 400-600 m) from Tha Phae Gate. From Chiang Mai Airport the centre is a 10-20 minute taxi, tuk‑tuk or songthaew ride (around 4-5 km) via Huay Kaew Road and the city roads into the Old City; local red songthaews and city buses stop along Ratchadamnoen Road.

• Go first thing after opening to avoid school and tour-group visits and to have the old-city galleries largely to yourself - the displays are easier to appreciate without crowds.
• Enter from the old-city side (near the main thoroughfares) so you can continue on foot to nearby historic sites; many visitors miss the detailed exhibits on Lanna urban planning and historical maps tucked into the upper galleries.
• Combine your visit with a short walking loop of the surrounding old-city streets midweek to avoid market-day foot traffic and get more time in the museum's multimedia rooms.

The centre is housed in an imposing building dating from 1924, originally constructed as the region’s administrative centre before northern Thailand was amalgamated into Siam. It later served as Chiang Mai’s City Hall until it was renovated and reopened in 1997 as a cultural centre and museum. It sits exactly at the “navel of the city”, fronted by a large square containing the Three Kings Monument, a bronze depicting the city’s founder, King Mangrai, alongside the kings of Sukhothai and Phayao. On the south side of the square stands the restored 13th-century Chedi of the City Navel, once home to the ancient Inthakin City Pillar before it was moved to Wat Chedi Luang.

Inside, separate galleries document the region’s development from its earliest prehistoric occupation through its many regional and ethnic cultures, Buddhism and local beliefs, the Burmese wars and the Lanna royal dynasties. Guides trained in English help explain the complexities of this historic region. Other highlights include scale models of the city and the Ping River as they were a century ago, and life-sized reconstructions of a traditional Lanna house, a northern Thai market and Thai and Chinese merchants’ shops. A central reception room on the second floor hosts changing exhibitions and is noted for its one-time use as a bedroom by King Rama VI.