Komol Phaboraan Textile Museum

Komol Phaboraan Textile Museum is a private collection of Long district weaving, opened to the public in August 1992 to mark Queen Sirikit’s 60th birthday. It’s free, open daily 09:30-17:00, and run from a bright yellow building modelled on the nearby Ban Pin railway station rather than a purpose-built gallery.

The collection centres on sin teen jok — sarong-style skirts with a densely patterned hem woven using the teen jok supplementary-weft technique that’s specific to Long district rather than northern Thailand generally. Some pieces date back roughly 200 years, preserved well enough that the weft patterns and natural dye colours are still legible. Komol Panichphan, the collector behind the museum, built the holdings over decades and has won five ASEAN textile competition awards for the collection’s documentation of pattern and technique. Look for pieces linked to Thai film costuming and a sarong connected to Thailand’s 1988 Miss Universe winner — an odd but genuine detail in the exhibit notes.

Insider Tip: The museum sells woven pieces made with the same teen jok technique on display — a better souvenir than anything in Phrae’s old-town gift shops, and the money supports local weavers directly.

The museum runs across five small sections, starting with Wiang Ta tempera paintings — old house-wall panels painted by local artisans and rescued as folk art — before moving into the textile galleries proper, where the sin teen jok pieces are organised by weaving village and era rather than simply hung in a row. It’s an intimate, unhurried visit rather than a formal museum experience; expect creaking floors, low-key signage, and a caretaker on hand rather than a ticket desk. Long district sits about 45km south of Phrae town, roughly 45-60 minutes by car, so this isn’t a casual add-on to the old-town circuit — it’s worth the drive specifically if textiles and traditional weaving interest you.

Watch out: It’s a small, privately run museum in a rural district, so hours can be informal. Call ahead (081 807 9960) before making the drive from Phrae town.

Combine it with Pha Jok Muang Long Learning Center and Natural Dye, which covers the natural-dye side of the same weaving tradition in the same district, or head back toward Phrae old town to see The Teak Museum and the province’s heritage mansions.