WARNING: This article covers a museum of death, forensic specimens, and preserved human remains. Several images below may be distressing. If that’s not your thing, our guide to Bangkok’s Airplane Graveyard is a somewhat gentler kind of unusual.
Key takeaways
- Open: Every day except Tuesday, 9:30am – 5pm (last entry 4:30pm)
- Price: 200 baht (adults) / 25 baht (children) per museum — combo ticket 300 baht
- Photography: NOT allowed inside the museum
- How long: Allow 2–3 hours for the full complex
- Getting there: Chao Phraya Express Boat (orange flag) to Siriraj Pier (N10)
- Address: 2 Wang Lang Rd, Bangkok Noi, Bangkok 10700
Somewhere inside Bangkok’s oldest hospital, in a glass case on the ground floor of the Forensic Medicine Museum, stands the mummified body of Si Ouey Sae Urng — a serial killer executed in 1959 who murdered and ate at least six children. He has been on display ever since. Thai parents still use his name to discipline children: “Behave, or Si Ouey will come for you.”
That’s what you’re walking into. The Siriraj Medical Museum — popularly nicknamed the Museum of Death — is one of the most extraordinary and genuinely disturbing attractions in Asia. It’s housed inside Siriraj Hospital, established in 1886 by King Rama V as Thailand’s first modern medical school. Six separate collections are open to the public across the hospital grounds. If you have a strong stomach and curiosity about medicine, forensic science, and the stranger corners of Thai history, it will stick with you for a long time.
The six museums inside Siriraj Hospital
Siriraj isn’t one museum — it’s six separate collections housed in different buildings across the hospital grounds. The 300 baht combo ticket covers them all and is well worth getting over the 200 baht single-museum ticket.
Ellis Pathological Museum
Named after A.G. Ellis, who laid the foundations of pathology in Thailand. This collection focuses on disease-identified specimens — largely foetuses and infants, preserved to document pathological conditions. It’s medically significant and clinically presented, but emotionally confronting.
Congdon Anatomical Museum
This is the section that will make anatomy enthusiasts stop cold. The Congdon Museum displays over 2,000 human organs — dissected, preserved, and labelled for educational study. Its centrepiece is a complete dissection of the human nervous and arterial systems, which is reportedly the only exhibit of its kind anywhere in the world. Even if you have a weak stomach, this section earns genuine awe.
Songkran Niyomsan Forensic Medicine Museum
This is the hardest section to get through — and the most searched. The Bangkok Forensic Museum documents real criminal cases: photographs, bones, and bodies of people who died in violent, unnatural circumstances, displayed alongside the weapons used. A dedicated section covers the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the identification process for victims recovered in Thailand.
And then there’s Si Ouey. Sae Urng Ung-Ari — known as Si Ouey — was a Chinese immigrant who murdered at least six children across central Thailand between 1954 and 1958. He was arrested, tried, and executed by firing squad in 1959. His body was then mummified and put on display at Siriraj to serve as a deterrent to crime. He remains there today, standing upright in a glass case. It’s uncomfortable viewing.
Parasitological Museum
The parasitology collection focuses on diseases caused by parasites — organs infected with various parasitic conditions, life-cycle displays, and the parasites themselves preserved in jars. It’s educational rather than viscerally disturbing, covering the biology and prevention of diseases that still affect millions across Southeast Asia.
Touch Museum in Honor of Queen Mother Sirikit
Located next to the Parasitology Museum, this small exhibit was designed for visually-impaired visitors and allows tactile interaction with specimens. It’s a brief but thoughtful section — and a notable change of pace after the Forensic Museum.
Siriraj Bimuksthan Museum (History Museum)
Completely different in tone from the rest of the complex. The Bimuksthan Museum covers the history of Thai medicine, Siriraj Hospital, and the development of Bangkok over the centuries. It includes a large archaeological collection spanning several hundred years, and the largest wooden boat ever excavated in Thailand. If you’re visiting with children or anyone who would prefer to skip the forensic sections, this is the museum to steer toward.
Note: most of the signage across the Siriraj complex is in Thai. There is enough English throughout to keep it interesting, but don’t expect to read the majority of labels.
Practical tips before you visit
- No photography inside. This applies to all six museums. Leave the phone in your pocket — it’s enforced.
- Dress respectfully. You’re visiting a functioning hospital. Covered shoulders and knees are appropriate.
- Bring cash. Tickets are purchased at the individual museum entrances; card payment is not available.
- Start with the Forensic Museum. Queues at the Si Ouey display build through the day. Arriving at opening and heading there first avoids the worst of it.
- Allow 2–3 hours for all six museums. Budget 30–45 minutes per museum for the main collections.
- The museum is inside an active hospital. Be respectful of staff and patients throughout your visit.
How to get to the Siriraj Medical Museum
The museum is on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River in the Bangkok Noi district.
- Chao Phraya Express Boat (recommended): Take the orange-flag express boat to Siriraj Pier (N10) or Prannock Pier. Tickets cost 15 baht per person. From Sathorn/Taksin (BTS interchange), it’s a direct 15–20 minute journey upstream.
- BTS + boat: Take the BTS Skytrain to Saphan Taksin (S6), then transfer to the Chao Phraya Express Boat for the journey north to Siriraj Pier.
- Taxi/Grab: Budget 100–200 baht from central Bangkok depending on traffic.
There are food stalls and small restaurants at the pier — ideal for a meal before the visit. Afterwards, most people prefer to eat somewhere else.
Opening times and prices (2026)
All museums (medical collections):
Open every day except Tuesday, 9:30am – 5pm (last admission 4:30pm)
Closed on public holidays
Siriraj Bimuksthan (History) Museum:
Check current hours at the museum entrance — opening hours for this section may differ.
Admission (foreigners):
200 baht per museum (adults) | 25 baht (children)
300 baht combo ticket — covers all museums in the complex
The combo ticket is the better value if you’re visiting more than one museum — which you should be, since each collection has a completely different character.
Book a Bangkok tour
The Siriraj is self-guided — no booking required, just arrive during opening hours. But if you want to make the most of a full day in Bangkok, here are some tours worth pairing with your visit:
For a thematic continuation, Bangkok’s ghost tours explore the city’s darker history after dark — some specifically include Siriraj as a stop and cover the story of Si Ouey alongside Bangkok’s ghost folklore.
Alternatively, the Bangkok by Night Tuk-Tuk Tour gives you a completely different perspective on the city — temples lit up at night, Chinatown street food, and the Grand Palace by lamplight. A good counterbalance after a day at Siriraj.
If you prefer to design your own itinerary, a private full-day Bangkok tour lets you build in a Siriraj stop alongside the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, and Wat Arun — all easily accessible from the same stretch of the Chao Phraya.
More unusual Bangkok attractions
If the Siriraj Museum appeals to your interest in Bangkok’s stranger side, Bangkok’s Airplane Graveyard is another genuinely odd attraction — abandoned commercial aircraft slowly decaying on the eastern outskirts of the city. For a full picture of what the city has to offer, our guide to what Bangkok offers as Thailand’s capital covers the highlights. And if you’re looking for a place to stay, see our roundup of 5-star hotels in Bangkok, or for something considerably more cheerful, the Thailand Lantern Festival.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the Siriraj Medical Museum famous?
The museum is best known for the mummified body of Si Ouey — a serial killer executed in 1959 whose preserved remains have been on public display ever since. More broadly, it’s famous for containing one of the world’s most unusual public collections: real forensic crime evidence, 2,000+ preserved organs, and what is reportedly the only complete dissection of the human nervous and arterial systems in existence.
Is it free to enter the Siriraj Medical Museum?
No. Admission for adult foreigners is 200 baht per individual museum, or 300 baht for a combo ticket covering all six museums. Children pay 25 baht. Tickets are bought at each museum entrance — cash only.
How long does it take to tour the Siriraj Museum?
Allow 2–3 hours for the full complex covering all six museums. If you’re focusing on the Forensic Medicine Museum and Congdon Anatomical Museum only, 60–90 minutes is enough. Plan to arrive at opening (9:30am) to avoid queues at the Si Ouey display.
What kind of artifacts are in the Siriraj Museum?
The collections span six disciplines: preserved foetuses and pathological specimens (Ellis Museum), 2,000+ dissected organs including a reportedly world-unique complete nervous and arterial system dissection (Congdon), real forensic crime scenes and the Si Ouey mummy (Forensic Museum), parasitological specimens (Parasitology Museum), a tactile accessible exhibit (Touch Museum), and Thai medical history including Thailand’s largest excavated wooden boat (Bimuksthan Museum).
Final thoughts
We visited the Siriraj Medical Museum years ago and still talk about it. The Forensic Museum in particular took us a while to shake — this is not a sanitised cultural experience, it’s real. If you go in with that expectation and the respect it requires, it’s one of the most memorable things you can do in Bangkok: a raw, educational, and deeply unusual window into medicine, crime, and Thai history all at once.
Open every day except Tuesday from 9:30am. Combo ticket 300 baht. No cameras. Worth every baht.
