Covering an area of more than 320 hectares, the park features 116 structures of Thailand’s famous monuments and architectural attractions such as ancient ruins, ancient temples, floating markets, markets, palaces, and more. The grounds of Ancient Siam correspond roughly to the shape of the kingdom, with the monuments lying at their correct places geographically. Some of the buildings are life-size replicas of existing or former sites, while others are scaled down. Still others are “creative designs,” and not replicas of any historical structure.
The replicas were constructed with the assistance of experts from the National Museum to ensure historical accuracy. Outstanding works include the former Grand Palace of Ayutthaya (destroyed in the Burmese invasion of 1767), Phimai Sanctuary in Nakhon Ratchasima, and Wat Khao Phra Viharn on the Cambodian border.
Construction began in 1963 and opened for service on February 11, 1972. Ancient Siam displays monuments and attractions from different eras and arranges them chronologically.
Entrepreneur Lek Viriyaphant is considered an eccentric, but with a love for art from an early age, he built this “miniature Thailand”. Initially, he intended to build a Thai map-shaped golf course where miniatures of important national ancient sites were placed, which aimed to serve tourism and education purposes only. Lek started doing research on the establishment of the Ancient City. He found that many ancient sites had been left in decay. Thus, he changed the concept of the Ancient City from being a tourist attraction and relaxation to an open-air museum for educational purposes to benefit newer generations who would be proud of their national heritage.
Lek continually created artwork in the Ancient City as well as the Sanctuary of Truth in Pattaya and the Erawan Museum in Samut Prakan until the end of his life on 17 November 2000.
The museum is open from 8 am to 5 pm, admission fee for adults is 500 Baht and 250 Baht for children. Since this is a very large area, tourists can rent bicycles to explore on their own, the rental fee is 50 baht.
According to Wikipedia and thaizer.com
