U Thant House is a place to remember the life and work of former United Nations Secretary-General U Thant and to discuss national and global challenges.

 

The House was U Thant’s residence in Yangon in the 1950s. It is today a place for exhibitions, public lectures, and high-level discussions, on the issues that were important to U Thant and are of continuing importance to Myanmar and the world: from sustainable development and environmental protection to peace and human rights.

                                              

U Thant House features a permanent exhibition with dozens of photographs and film footage tracing U Thant’s life from modest beginnings in the Irrawaddy delta town of Pantanaw to his time as the world’s premier diplomat.

 

U Thant was United Nations Secretary-General from 1961 to 1971. He dealt with the top global issues of the day, from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the Vietnam War and the Six Day War, meeting often with world leaders including John F. Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev, Charles de Gaulle, Jawaharlal Nehru and Fidel Castro. He was also a passionate believer in safeguarding the natural environment.