Khon Learning Center

The KhonMasked dance drama of the Thai court tradition, which stages the Ramakien. Learning Center is an exhibition and learning building given over entirely to khon, the masked dance drama of Thailand. It stands within the Ko Kerd Arts and Crafts Centre, in Bang Pa-in district, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province. The Arts of the Kingdom museum occupies the same complex.²

The building is run by the SUPPORT Foundation, the institution that each year produces the major khon performances staged under royal patronage. It presents, first and foremost, khon as this foundation has reconstructed it and keeps it alive on stage.²

It should not be confused with two places that share its theme. The Bang Sai Royal Folk Arts and Crafts Centre, in the same province, teaches among other things the making of khon masks. In Bangkok, the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles devotes an activity room to khon.¹²

The building’s Thai name, อาคารเรียน-รู้-เรื่องโขน, is transcribed ‘Ahkahn Rian Roo Reuang Khon’. It literally means ‘building for learning about khon’. In English, the place is referred to variously as ‘All About Khon’, ‘All About Khon Learning Center’ or ‘Khon Learning Centre’.⁷

The Thai spelling adds a nuance. Hyphens separate the three words of the expression เรียน-รู้-เรื่อง: to learn, to know, to understand.²

To understand what the building preserves, one needs to know what khon is. It is a masked dance drama. Its episodes come from the RamakienThai version of the Ramayana, the Indian epic of the hero Rama.. The origins of khon are traced back to the Ayutthaya periodPeriod of Siamese history, from the mid-fourteenth century to 1767, during which the kingdom had Ayutthaya as its capital. (1350–1767). It is in the province of this former capital that the Khon Learning Center stands today.⁴

Khon is not merely a dance. It brings together music, song, literature, dance, ritual and craftsmanship. A performance also depends on the making of costumes and masks and on stage design. It is this chain of crafts that the building makes visible.⁴

The revival of khon on display at Ko Kerd is linked to Queen Sirikit, who later became Queen Mother. In 1976 she founded the SUPPORT Foundation (Foundation for the Promotion of Supplementary Occupations and Related Techniques). The Queen saw khon declining at the time. She wished to revive it and asked for the costumes and props to be remade in the old style, while modernising the performances.¹⁰

This twofold choice explains what visitors discover today. The Queen’s work revived the art of costume, make-up, dance postures and staging. The initiative also established an annual recruitment of young performers, which ensures a new generation on stage.¹³

From 2007 onwards, the SUPPORT Foundation has regularly staged khon performances. Known as ‘royal khonName given to the large-scale khon performances staged under royal patronage, with costumes, sets and props made in the traditional style.’, they fulfil the Queen’s wish. The Khon Learning Center preserves and displays the sets and props from these performances.⁹

On 29 November 2018, UNESCO inscribed ‘Khon, masked dance drama in Thailand’ on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of HumanityList maintained by UNESCO that records elements of intangible cultural heritage in order to ensure their visibility and raise awareness of their significance.. The building at Ko Kerd celebrates this international recognition. King Maha Vajiralongkorn has expressed the wish that khon be preserved and passed on to younger generations. On 2 November 2025, together with Queen Suthida, he attended the premiere of ‘Bali's Unbreakable Oath’ at the Thailand Cultural Centre. The sets of this production are on display at the Khon Learning Center.¹

The Ramakien is present from the outside of the building. The pillars of the front balcony bear figures of its characters, so that visitors meet the heroes and demons of the epic before they even step inside. This decoration heralds the route within, organised around the objects that give these characters form on stage.⁷

Inside, the building extends over several levels, served by a lift. There are large stage sets, masks, costumes, stage chariots known as rajarotStage chariot used in khon, built and decorated to represent the vehicle of the divine, royal or demonic characters of the epic. and numerous props. Videos trace the history of khon, and members of staff guide visitors. The objects are thus set back within the performance to which they belong.⁷

One room presents the masks of the different characters side by side.²

A section entitled ‘ศิราภรณ์โขน’ (khon headdresses) shows several types of masks and headdresses of great delicacy. Some masks are made of twenty-two successive layers.²

The sets form the most spectacular part of the visit. They were used in the SUPPORT Foundation’s performances and bear witness to the scale that its revival has given khon. Those from the episode ‘Satya Pali’, Bali’s oath, are displayed in the building following the 2025 performances. These sets combine several arts, foremost among them painting.²

The short interval between stage and exhibition is telling. A set created for the 2025 season is shown to the public in the very same year.

Among the sets preserved, one is particularly striking: Hanuman Swallowing the Pavilion (หนุมานอมพลับพลา). This set comes from the Maiyarap episode (‘ศึกไมยราพ’). It depicts the immense monkey holding a pavilion in his mouth. Its dimensions are such that visitors can walk inside this giant Hanuman.⁹

On display at Ko Kerd, this giant Hanuman is promoted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.⁸

Another monumental set, the royal junk (เรือสำเภาหลวง), comes from the episode of Phiphek’s submission (‘พิเภกสวามิภักดิ์’). This great stage vessel shows the variety of royal khon sets. These may depict creatures as well as boats or buildings, according to what each episode demands.⁹

The stage objects and stage chariots show the same concern for scale. Seen together, these sets make clear that each SUPPORT Foundation production involves a genuine undertaking by craftspeople. The building keeps a record of it once the performances are over.

The Khon Learning Center does not merely display finished objects. It seeks to convey how they are made. The visit explains the making of costumes and masks and the design of the sets. It presents these skills as a heritage handed down from generation to generation.⁸

Khon is presented here as a complete art. Choreography, music, costumes and masks are explained together, with demonstrations and interactive displays. Visitors can thus connect a mask to the character who wears it, then to the codified gestures of the dance and to the music that sets the rhythm of its movements. This approach matches the definition of khon recognised by UNESCO: an art in which literature, dance, music, ritual and craftsmanship are inseparable.³

The building has several missions: to preserve and pass on the art of khon, to conserve the sets and props from the SUPPORT Foundation’s performances, and to welcome the public so that they may discover this heritage. Across several levels it brings together archives and knowledge. It also functions as a working school, where new generations train in this art.¹

This dual function sets the place apart from a conventional museum. The objects on display remain bound to a practice that continues.

The Khon Learning Center is open to the public. The Tourism Authority of Thailand has included it in a cultural programme entitled ‘KOH KERD’. This programme links the building and the Arts of the Kingdom museum in a single itinerary. In 2026, the Authority is running a free shuttle from Bangkok until 26 December. The programme pays tribute to the Queen Mother on the occasion of her birthday, 12 August.³

Free-admission campaigns accompany this effort, notably in November 2025 and then until 29 November 2026.⁹

The building is in a particular position: it preserves the material traces of an art that, by its very nature, exists fully only on stage. A mask on display is separated from the dancer who wears it, from the music and from the story. The visit seeks to make up for this separation. Videos, demonstrations and guided tours restore to khon the part that objects alone cannot show.

A foundation under royal patronage revived an art then in decline, both its crafts and its performances. Today it displays the results. The Khon Learning Center shows that the revival of khon was a comprehensive project, one that brought together craftspeople, performers and the public alike.