When considering Mueang Khon Kaen as a travel destination, you will find different ways to explore the city: museums focus on currency, history and culture, while a lake with a public park and distinctive religious buildings offer further perspectives. This lets you tailor your choices to whether you are most interested in regional knowledge, city history, architecture or scenery.
Museums spanning currency and regional history
The Khon Kaen Treasury Museum is located in an important business district of the city. Its main focus is Thai currency. At the same time, the museum reflects the economic and social development of northeastern Thailand and Khon Kaen Province, from the past to the present. This connects the subject of money with the development of a region and its province.
The Khon Kaen National Museum has a different thematic focus: visitors can learn about the geography, history, archaeology, culture and ethnology of northeastern Thailand. Compared with the Treasury Museum, its scope is broader, covering various fields of knowledge about the region. So when choosing between the two museums, the key consideration is the perspective you want: currency and economic and social development, or several subject areas relating to the Northeast.
Hong Mun Mang: a treasure hall in name
Hong Mun Mang is also known as the Khon Kaen City Museum. Its name can be understood through the language of northeastern Thailand: “Hong” means “hall,” while “Mun Mang” means “treasure.” Literally, “Hong Mun Mang” therefore means “treasure hall.” This offers a linguistic way into the city museum and complements the thematic perspectives suggested by the names Khon Kaen Treasury Museum and Khon Kaen National Museum.
Lake and park at Bueng Kaen Nakhon
Bueng Kaen Nakhon covers approximately 603 rai (964,800 square meters) and is surrounded by a shady public park. At the lake, the water and the park’s greenery take center stage—a different way of experiencing Khon Kaen than through collections and fields of knowledge. A monument to Chao Phia Mueang Phaen, the founder of Khon Kaen, also stands on the lakeshore. Here, a landscape and a monument explicitly connected with the city’s history come together.
Architecture, religion and city history
Phra Mahathat Kaen Nakhon brings together art from Indochina and the Dvaravati period. Its nine floors become smaller toward the top and are crowned by a golden spire. All nine floors have murals on their doors and windows, depicting the story of Buddha and tales from Isan. The tapering form and recurring murals highlight different aspects of the same building: its exterior design and the religious and regional stories it depicts.
Khon Kaen was founded as a city during the reign of King Rama I, more than 200 years ago. Another link to the city’s history is the monument at Bueng Kaen Nakhon, which commemorates Chao Phia Mueang Phaen. The City Pillar Shrine on Si Chan Road is considered the center of the city. It is a sacred religious monument, highly revered by the people of Khon Kaen. Together, these places show different facets of the city’s history and religious significance: the founding of Khon Kaen, the monument to its founder by the lake, and the local veneration of the City Pillar Shrine.
Discover more destinations: Na Chum Saeng, Chum Phae, Ban Dong, Nong Paen, Thung Pong, Ban Non, Amphoe Kranuan, Chonnabot.
For the broader travel overview: Khon Kaen.
