After visiting “The White Temple,” the next stop on our short trip to Chiang Rai had to be Baan Dam, or “The Black House.” The two structures are polar opposites, making the afternoon a perfect juxtaposition to our morning spent at Wat Rong Khun.

Built by Thawan Duchanee, a local Chiang Rai artist and someone who had worked closely with the artist behind “The White Temple” on other projects, Baan Dam is the polar opposite of the fairytale like temple. 

The Black House

“The Black House” is not a temple, but a museum. It is meant to be a more contemporary structure which makes people believe it is supposed to represent the opposite of what the “White Temple” does, “the darkness in humanity.” therefore it makes sense to me, as most of the objects on display at “The Black House” are made from bones and other animal parts.

Apparently all of the bones and skins are from animals that died of natural causes… I’m not sure how anyone would know if this is true or not, but its a nice sentiment. 

While walking around the grounds, the works of Dali and Gaudi immediately came to mind. It really is a surreal place. There are tons of structures scattered around the grounds, all filled with very interesting objects. Some are bedrooms with animal skeletons around the room. And others are dining rooms with wolf skins (complete with the wolf’s head) adorning the tables. There are structures filled with chairs made of bones. And there are cages filled with animals that aren’t usually associated with happy thoughts (think pythons, huge snapping turtles, owls, crows, etc.). 

The architecture is absolutely stunning. The lace patterns carved into the wood show the artists attention to detail. I was very impressed during my visit and I would absolutely recommend heading there.

It’s about the same distance as the White Temple is from Chiang Rai, but in the opposite direction. I would head to the White Temple first. Afterwards I would stop in Chiang Rai for lunch before driving to Baan Dam.