EU Heritage Day

On the 15th and 16th of September, the EU Heritage Days took place. The historic Baan Hollanda site, located in Ayutthaya, was the decor for a wonderful event. The old Dutch trading post was open for the general public for the entire weekend. On Sunday, the Dutch ambassador Mr. Rade expressed his gratitude for the attendance of the Governor of Ayudhaya Mr. Sujin Chaichumsak and lauded the Fine Arts Department for keeping the center in pristine condition. The ambassador emphasized 400 years of Thai-Dutch history, symbolized by Baan Hollanda, and expressed the desire for further cultural and economic integration between the two nations. The event was concluded by an informative tour of the site by historian Mr. Dhiravat Na Pombejra.

Representatives from the Dutch Embassy, Office of Governor of Ayutthaya and the Fine Arts Department.

Ambassador of the Netherlands Mr. Kees Rade and historian Dr. Dhiravat Na Pombejra.

Filming and school visits at Baan Hollanda

It's now almost the end of August and we have been indeed very busy during the past several months. We are pleased to learn that our exhibition has welcomed many schools and organisations starting in May 2017!

We started the busy period with a documentary filming group who came to conduct an interview for a new history documentary for Thai PBS channel. The documentary series 'Ayutthaya: The Untold Story' is now being on aired in August 2017. 

Our board members and historians, Dr. Bhawan Ruangsilp and Dr. Dhiravat na Pombejra gave interviews to the filming crew. 

Also in May 2017, Ploenpattana school from Bangkok has visited us again this year as part of their school programme. The students learned about the Dutch settlement and lives of the foreign merchants at the time when Ayutthaya was the capital city. 

Students from Ploenpattana School at our permanent exhibition

Later in June 2017, we welcome a big group of students from St.Stephen International School. We were delighted to see that many students were very eager to ask questions and wrote down what've learned from the exhibition tour. We also would like to thank Dr.Dhiravat, our historian and advisor, for his time on the day. 

Students from St.Stephen International School at the historical site and exhibition of Baan Hollanda

We would like to thank everyone who visited us. Baan Hollanda is pleased to welcome students and school visit all year round. Please feel free to contact us to book your visit at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Children storytelling at Baan Hollanda

On 24th December, we started our holiday season with an activity for children: Hollanda's Storytelling, The Tropical adventure. The event has welcomed many young children from local schools in Ayutthaya and other cities near by. We began the activity with a little dance session to lighten up the atmosphere and get everyone ready for the story. Then the storytelling activity began. We selected Jarvis's Alan's Big, Scary Teeth as our story which was very well received from both the children and parents.

Apart from the story, we also prepared a cookie decorating workshop which the children enjoyed very much.

Baan Hollanda wishes to thank everyone who joined our acitivity. As a museum/ an information centre, we always hope to work for the community and promote learning opportunities as much as possible for the local people. This event is our great step to have more engagement and to contribute our services to the people, especially to young students. We also would like to thank our kind volunteers: Khun Nattida Vanichayalai and Khun Prapassara Boonbarn for your dedicated contribution and great teamwork. We hope to see everyone again at our next event!

Dutch Trading Post Heritage Network meeting 2016 

From November 13th – 16th 2016, Baan Hollanda hosted the second general meeting of the Dutch Trading Post Heritage Network, under the title of “Treasure in Heritage: Aspects of Dutch-Asian Interactions”. Various activities had been taken place, for example, a visit to the old settlement of the Dutch trading post in Ayutthaya, where Baan Hollanda, an information centre on the relationship between Thailand and the Netherlands is located, academic presentations related to the VOC history from the members, a field trip to historical places in Ayutthaya, a farewell dinner that was kindly hosted by Embassy of the Netherlands in Thailand and the workshop of "Storytelling, Interpretation & Learning with and from Collections", which the last one had set up by the cooperation between Baan Hollanda, National Discovery Museum Institute – NDMI and Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. (Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed).

During the network visit to Baan Hollanda, Ayutthaya

Member presentation under the topic: Treasure in Heritage

Members of the network visit historical site in Ayutthaya

Dutch Trading Post Heritage Network is an international network of institutions in the public and private sector that work with VOC heritage. (VOC was one of a powerful company in the 17th and 18th century due to its capability in operating a large trading network connecting many cities around Asia as well as the Netherlands and other regions.)

The signing to set up Dutch Trading Post Heritage Network had been taken place in 2014, in Hirado, Japan, with 3 purposes:

1) Share knowledge and research between the various members of the network to increase understanding of VOC related history and the management of VOC heritage and cooperate to do research to close knowledge gap between members.
2) Initiate and promote exchanges on a cultural, economic, educational and personal level between the various members.
3) Increase awareness about VOC history as well as promote and increase awareness about the current state of the VOC sites and the links between them.

At present, our network consists of 10 members from various cities in 6 countries:
Ambon (Indonesia): Ambon City Government
Ayutthaya (Thailand): Baan Hollanda Foundation
Banda (Indonesia): Banda Heritage Foundation
Galle (Sri Lanka): Galle Heritage Foundation
Hirado (Japan): Hirado Dutch Trading Post
Jakarta (Indonesia): Indonesian Documentation Centre of Architecture
Malacca (Malaysia): Melaka World Heritage Office
Nagasaki (Japan): Nagasaki City Dejima Restoration Office
Tainan (Taiwan): Taijiang National Park Headquarters
Ternate (Indonesia): Ternate Heritage Society

For further information regarding the network please refer to:

http://heritagenetwork.wixsite.com/dutchtradingpost

Dutch Art & Food Sunday 2016

On Sunday 24th April 2016, Baan Hollanda organised a special activity "Dutch Art & Food Sunday" to celebrate the National day of the Netherlands as well as to introduce Dutch art and food to our visitors. We prepared empty cloth bag for our visitors to paint and draw their favourite various Dutch inspired patterns. The session was very popular and attracted many visitors and families.

Regarding the food, we prepared many Dutch snack including freshly made Stroopwafel from a local Dutch bakery. Apart from this, we also had many snack menus including the famous Dutch Bitterballen, Frikandellen and Kroketten. The atmosphere was lively including when our live acoustic session started in the afternoon.

The event wouldn't have been possible with our kind volunteers and staff. We appreciate your contribution and support very much. And most important of all, our visitors who came to join our event. There were a lot of both Dutch and Thai visitors and families who came to visit and be part of our experience. We are grateful for your support and hope to see you again at our next event.