The 7 Largest Museum in Yangon

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1. National Museum of Myanmar – Yangon:

  • Established in 1952, this museum houses a vast collection of artifacts and antiquities highlighting various periods of Myanmar’s history and culture.
  • Known for its impressive display of royal regalia, ancient sculptures, traditional costumes, and paintings.
  • An extensive section dedicated to the history of Myanmar’s ethnic groups, including their traditional arts and crafts.

2. Myanmar Gems Museum – Mogok:

  • Located in the renowned ruby-mining region of Mogok, this museum showcases a dazzling display of precious gems and minerals found in Myanmar.
  • Features a variety of gemstones, including rubies, sapphires, jade, pearls, and more.
  • Exhibits provide insightful information about the history, mining, and processing of gemstones in Myanmar.

3. Bogyoke Aung San Museum – Yangon:

  • Dedicated to the life and legacy of Myanmar’s independence hero, General Aung San, this museum offers a glimpse into the country’s struggle for freedom.
  • Features personal artifacts, photographs, documents, and other items related to General Aung San and his role in Myanmar’s history.
  • Provides an understanding of Myanmar’s political and social landscape during the independence movement.

4. Myanmar Traditional Arts and Culture Museum – Mandalay:

  • This museum showcases the rich cultural heritage of Myanmar through a variety of traditional arts and crafts.
  • Displays include exquisite textiles, intricate wood carvings, lacquerware, pottery, and musical instruments.
  • Provides insights into the traditional techniques and skills passed down through generations of artisans.

5. Shwedagon Pagoda Museum – Yangon:

  • Located at the base of the iconic Shwedagon Pagoda, this museum houses a collection of artifacts and relics related to the pagoda and its significance in Myanmar’s Buddhist history.
  • Features ancient Buddha images, inscriptions, and other religious items.
  • Offers an understanding of the pagoda’s religious and cultural importance.
Myanmar Gems Museum in Yangon
Myanmar Gems Museum in Yangon

The 7 Biggest Museum near Yangon

National Museum of Myanmar

  • Address: 66 Pyay Rd, Yangon 11191, Myanmar (Burma)
  • Map: Click here
  • Rating: 4.2 (1248)
  • Phone: +95 1 378 652
  • Opening hours:
    Monday: Closed
    Tuesday: 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
    Wednesday: 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
    Thursday: 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
    Friday: 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
    Saturday: 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
    Sunday: 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
  • Reviews:
    Maris Cockrell✭✭✭✭
    5 months ago
    Surprisingly empty. No bags allowed inside but there are lockers you can rent. Phones are allowed but some areas are off limits for photography.

    4 floors with 3-4 galleries per floor. It has everything from Royal Regalia and thrones to prehistoric dinosaur bones. The gallery on the major tribes that make up Myanmar was fascinating as was the music and art gallery.

    Well worth a visit if you are in the city. Give yourself 2-3 hours to explore.

    Katie Harvey✭✭✭✭✭
    3 months ago
    I absolutely loved this place! Unbelievably cheap at 5000 MMK for foreigners and 500 MMK for locals. Stunning things on show from original Costumes of kings and queens gone by, weapons, jewellery, beautifully carved teak cupbards and shelves, thrones, EVERYTHING GILDED in Burmese gold. Different eras in Myanmar shown through rubbings taken from stones and carvings amd payas in Shwedaggon, Mingun, Bagan, Mandalay and other famous places. Even prehistoric fossils uncovered all over Myanmar. Well worth a visit. 🙂
    Saw Soe Hla Kyi✭✭✭✭✭
    a week ago
    I love it and want to go back there again. There are many things to learn and study.
    Moh Teama✭✭✭✭
    a year ago
    I was there last year people said its closed now as they plan to move it to another place so you need to check about this. But although of this I want to share my experience about this amazing museum as I really enjoyed to be there last year. First you pay as forginer 500k and you have to leave your bag at outside locker and it’s mandatory The museum consist of 5 floors each one has a story and it’s special and different items. If you want to know about Burma history and traditions and culture this will be the best place ever as almost show every thing you need to know specially its very hard to find someone explain all of this to you as the history of Burma is long and complicated. I took around 1.5 hours to finish my tour and still feeling its not enough. Overall its a great experience and I hope it still open.
    Zaw Myo Tun✭✭✭✭
    2 months ago
    A good place to learn about Burma. A quite place too.

Bogyoke Aung San Museum

  • Address: 25 Bo Gyoke Museum Ln, Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)
  • Map: Click here
  • Rating: 4.3 (473)
  • Phone: +95 1 345 651
  • Website:
  • Opening hours:
    Monday: Closed
    Tuesday: 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
    Wednesday: 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
    Thursday: 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
    Friday: 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
    Saturday: 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
    Sunday: 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
  • Reviews:
    Y S✭✭✭
    4 months ago
    Bring your passport to enter for now. If you are interested in history of Myanmar, this place would be good to stop by. Not too bad but there was a house and can see General Aung San’s furnitures. Foreigners, 5000MMK is entrance fee. 1-15 min. is good to see everything.
    G Aquino✭✭✭✭
    6 years ago
    The museum celebrates the life and times of General Aung San. It is quite small and can be visited in under an hour. It is housed in a charming colonial building, the last home the famed political leader lived in before his assassination. A young Aung San Suu Kyi, the general’s daughter and herself a prominent political personality, figures in a lot of the photos on display.

    For its size, the museum charges a steep fee of 5,000 kyats (about 4 USD), the same amount charged at the huge National Museum not far away.

    Vanlalhruaii✭✭✭✭
    5 years ago
    The place has both historical and present significance. Historical – because it had been the place where the family of General Aung San (Father of Myanmar) and his daughter the present State Counsellor of Myanmar and noble peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi had lived. The house is very beautiful and attractive. It is constructed at small hillock. Inside the house, the statue of Aung San which really looks like a living one has been kept, you may like to talk with him. It is so amazing to see with your own eyes the place where great people has lived their live, shared their thoughts, dine together so on and so forth.

    It is a good place for researcher too. The overcoat presented to General Aung San by great Indian leader Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru has been kept there, and numbers of biography of General Aung San, Su Kyi and other valuable books are available there.

    Brilliant English✭✭✭✭✭
    4 years ago
    This Museum is the home of General Aung San,Burma(Myanmar) Independent leader.It shows his family photos, their living style and the books that he read.
    Vinita Baid✭✭✭✭
    4 years ago
    A must visit in Yangon .Very well maintained .So many memories of the man who fought for the freedom of Myanmar .The tribute by the people by preserving all his memories makes one really nostalgic .Complete info on this truly great icon is found here .We not only are informed but are full of respect for this great personality who did so much for his country in his short but meaningful life .Life cannot be counted and worthy for the no.of years you live but by what you contribute for your nation .A true hero .Sadly he lived for a very short period .

U Thant House

  • Address: No.31, Panwa Lane (enter from, Inya Rd, Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)
  • Map: Click here
  • Rating: 4.6 (175)

Myanmar Amber Museum

  • Address: 136 37th Street, Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)
  • Map: Click here
  • Rating: 4 (4)

Anawrahta Art Gallery

  • Address: Thit Yar Pin St, Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)
  • Map: Click here
  • Rating: 4.8 (15)

Myanma Motion Picture Museum

  • Address: R535+FR2, Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)
  • Map: Click here
  • Rating: 4 (3)

Myanmar Gems Museum

  • Address: P4V8+H93, Naypyidaw, Myanmar (Burma)
  • Map: Click here
  • Rating: 4.1 (266)
Myanmar Gems Museum in Yangon
Myanmar Gems Museum in Yangon

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Top Museum Alternatives in Yangon

Myanmar (Burmese: မြန်မာ; MLCTS: Mranma, pronounced [mjəmà]), officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, also known as Burma (the official name until 1989), is a country in Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has a population of about 55 million. It is bordered by Bangladesh and India to its northwest, China to its northeast, Laos and Thailand to its east and southeast, and the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal to its south and southwest. The country's capital city is Naypyidaw, and its largest city is Yangon (formerly Rangoon).Early civilisations in the area included the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states in Upper Myanmar and the Mon kingdoms in Lower Myanmar. In the 9th century, the Bamar people entered the upper Irrawaddy valley, and following the establishment of the Pagan Kingdom in the 1050s, the Burmese language, culture, and Theravada Buddhism slowly became dominant in the country. The Pagan Kingdom fell to Mongol invasions, and several warring states emerged. In the 16th century, reunified by the Taungoo dynasty, the country became the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia for a short period. The early 19th-century Konbaung dynasty ruled over an area that included modern Myanmar and briefly controlled Manipur and Assam as well. The British East India Company seized control of the administration of Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century, and the country became a British colony. After a brief Japanese occupation, Myanmar was reconquered by the Allies. On 4 January 1948, Myanmar declared independence under the terms of the Burma Independence Act 1947.
Myanmar's post-independence history has continued to be checkered by unrest and conflict. The coup d'état in 1962 resulted in a military dictatorship under the Burma Socialist Programme Party. On 8 August 1988, the 8888 Uprising then resulted in a nominal transition to a multi-party system two years later, but the country's post-uprising military council refused to cede power, and has continued to rule the country through to the present. The country remains riven by ethnic strife among its myriad ethnic groups and has one of the world's longest-running ongoing civil wars. The United Nations and several other organisations have reported consistent and systemic human rights violations in the country. In 2011, the military junta was officially dissolved following a 2010 general election, and a nominally civilian government was installed. Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners were released and the 2015 Myanmar general election was held, leading to improved foreign relations and eased economic sanctions, although the country's treatment of its ethnic minorities, particularly in connection with the Rohingya conflict, continued to be a source of international tension and consternation. Following the 2020 Myanmar general election, in which Aung San Suu Kyi's party won a clear majority in both houses, the Burmese military (Tatmadaw) again seized power in a coup d'état. The coup, which was widely condemned by the international community, led to continuous ongoing widespread protests in Myanmar and has been marked by violent political repression by the military, as well as a larger outbreak of the civil war. The military also arrested Aung San Suu Kyi in order to remove her from public life, and charged her with crimes ranging from corruption to the violation of COVID-19 protocols; all of the charges against her are "politically motivated" according to independent observers.Myanmar is a member of the East Asia Summit, Non-Aligned Movement, ASEAN, and BIMSTEC, but it is not a member of the Commonwealth of Nations despite once being part of the British Empire. Myanmar is a Dialogue Partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The country is very rich in natural resources, such as jade, gems, oil, natural gas, teak and other minerals, as well as also endowed with renewable energy, having the highest solar power potential compared to other countries of the Great Mekong Subregion. However, Myanmar has long suffered from instability, factional violence, corruption, poor infrastructure, as well as a long history of colonial exploitation with little regard to human development. In 2013, its GDP (nominal) stood at US$56.7 billion and its GDP (PPP) at US$221.5 billion. The income gap in Myanmar is among the widest in the world, as a large proportion of the economy is controlled by cronies of the military junta. Myanmar is one of the least developed countries; as of 2020, according to the Human Development Index, it ranks 147 out of 189 countries in terms of human development, the lowest in Southeast Asia. Since 2021, more than 600,000 people were displaced across Myanmar due to the surge in violence post-coup, with more than 3 million people in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

The Biggest Museum in Myanmar (Burma)

While Yangon is known for its impressive collection of museums, there are also alternative attractions that offer unique experiences. Here are the top three alternative options:

  • Yangon Circular Train: Instead of visiting a museum, take a ride on the Yangon Circular Train for a different perspective of the city. This train ride takes you on a loop around Yangon, providing an opportunity to see the daily lives of the locals. As you leisurely pass through neighborhoods, you’ll witness vibrant markets, bustling streets, and stunning landscapes. It’s a great way to immerse yourself in the local culture and explore the less touristy areas of Yangon.
  • Inya Lake: Inya Lake is a tranquil oasis in the heart of Yangon. While not a museum, it is a popular alternative attraction for locals and visitors alike. The lake offers a peaceful environment, perfect for relaxing walks, picnics, or even boat rides. Surrounded by lush greenery and stunning views, Inya Lake is a great place to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. It’s also a popular spot for joggers and cyclists.
  • Kandawgyi Park: Another alternative to traditional museums is Kandawgyi Park. This park, located near the iconic Shwedagon Pagoda, offers a beautiful setting with a large lake and well-maintained gardens. It’s a popular spot for both locals and tourists, offering plenty of space for leisurely walks, picnics, or even a boat ride on the lake. The park also features a scenic boardwalk, where you can enjoy panoramic views of Yangon’s skyline. It’s a great way to unwind and enjoy nature in the heart of the city.

Thank you for taking the time to read our article. For more in-depth reviews and comprehensive ratings on the Museum spots, please explore the recommended articles listed below.

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