Thawan's 'Black House' commences charging visitors

CHIANG RAI -- The iconic Baandam Museum created by the late master artist Thawan Duchanee has begun charging all visitors an 80-baht admission fee for the first time in 40 years, starting on Dec 1.

“Since Baandam was built more than 40 years ago, we’ve never charged visitors, and its expenses were met by the family, from my father's generation to my generation,” Thawan’s son Doytibet, who is managing director of Baandam, said on Thursday.

“But now the monthly expense of running Baandam has gone up to one million baht. So for Baandam to survive, we need to impose an entry fee to cover operating and maintenance costs.”