The restored, two-story villa, first built in 1921 as housing for colonial officials, sits at the end of a gravel path on Panwa Road.
It isn’t like other museums, and it isn’t like other restored homes.
The exhibit is split up into different rooms, each dedicated to different periods and themes of U Thant’s upbringing and career: Early Life, Educator, Writer, Public Servant, Secretary-General U Thant, Peacemaker.
The rooms are outfitted with spare pieces of furniture, vases of flowers, photographs and video documenting the career of Myanmar’s most famous diplomat, who was appointed Secretary General to the United Nations in 1961 and reappointed for the second time in 1966.
It’s self-guided. A booklet, caption key and summary texts bring you from room to room.
Facebook / Thant Myint-U
Quotes on the walls, taken from U Thant’s memoirs, are a world away from the statements coming from any political party in Myanmar today.
An example:
“If we can…free ourselves from the shackles of hatred, fear, and prejudice, as well as from want and disease, we may hope for a new and great resurgence of creative activity – a vast spiritual and intellectual reawakening of mankind.”
Open doors and large windows let in natural sunlight, creating a feeling of being at home on a quiet weekend.
Here is the living room.
In 2013, the first phase of restoration was completed. Now, an expansion is underway. There are more photos and multimedia content.
In this room upstairs, a photo of a meeting between John Lennon, Yoko Ono and U Thant sits flat on a desk. In the background, a portrait. On the wall and out of view a video plays featuring various U Thant appearances and speeches.
It is a calming place, away from the traffic of Yangon. Go outside on the balcony and take in the fragrant garden. For a man whose work was dedicated to peace, this setting could not be more fitting.
The U Thant House Trust, co-chaired by the former secretary general’s grandson, Thant Myint-U, is attempting to expand and build a “new library, an audio-visual centre, and a small café and gift shop that would make the house and all its activities self-sustaining,” according to a slick booklet passed out to visitors over the weekend.
From now on, the house is open to the public on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm. There is no entrance fee but donations are suggested.
To get there, take Inya Road to Panwa, where you make a sharp left to turn onto the street. There is also a map on Thant Myint-U’s public Facebook page.
Photos of living room, study and balcony / Coconuts Yangon
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