Patpong: the rise of Bangkok’s most famous red light district charted at new museum, complete with mock-up bar room and ‘X-rated’ area
- Thailand’s new Patpong Museum charts the history of the notorious neighbourhood whose story begins in China’s island province of Hainan
- Discover the area’s presumed CIA connections, why go-go bars blossomed, and get a glimpse of Patpong’s more dubious attractions
“I love Patpong,” says Michael Messner, founder and curator of the recently opened Patpong Museum in Bangkok.
The Austrian entrepreneur, 42, and five partners have invested more than US$1 million in the museum, a well-researched showcase of art, artefacts and information that charts the history of a neighbourhood that gave birth to one of the world’s most notorious red light districts.
He is keen to stress, however, that the museum does not just focus on the sex industry.
“In the museum tour we are telling 100 years of history of Southeast Asia that can be viewed through the lens of this street,” he says.
Messner, son of late Austrian fine artist Ernst Fuchs, has the right qualifications for the job. His family runs the Ernst Fuchs Museum in Vienna, where he learned how to run such venues from an early age.
He relocated to Bangkok in 2001 and was quickly enchanted by the Patpong neighbourhood for its “authenticity and history”. He invested in a bar in the already packed go-go scene, and now runs the Barbar Fetish Club and Black Pagoda – just above the Patpong Museum on Patpong 2 Road.
