A visit to U Thant House provides opportunities to:

• learn about the life and times of U Thant, the third Secretary-General of the United Nations and lifelong public servant, educator, and writer who served two terms as the world’s top diplomat during the tumultuous 1960s, ushering in visionary new initiatives to promote peace, development, and human rights around the world;

• explore Myanmar and Cold War history through photographs, newsreels, and books on topics from Myanmar’s earliest post-independence years to the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War;

• enjoy a peaceful garden in the heart of Yangon featuring native plants from around the country; and reflect on the global changes of U Thant’s lifetime and on the guiding principles of the work of the United Nations then and today.

 
U Thant House is staffed by knowledgeable guides who can walk you through the collection and bring U Thant and his times to life. Visitors can see personal papers, rare photographs, and videos of historic speeches.

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We welcome close to 6,000 visitors per year, 75% of whom are from Myanmar. We believe museums have an important role to fill in society as a place for learning and can serve as a complement to formal education institutions, regardless of a visitor’s age or prior training. This opportunity to facilitate learning using modern pedagogic methodologies to engage (and change) visitors is perhaps particularly important in an ethnically diverse country like Myanmar, which is emerging from decades of dictatorship and isolation with the overarching challenge of transitioning to a peaceful, inclusive, and globally re-connected society. 

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We consider the museum part of our work programme first and foremost as a service to community to offer an opportunity to learn not only about a historic person but also about an important part of global history, as well as to reflect on the values U Thant worked to promote, such as peace, tolerance, and the safeguarding of the environment. 

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We are grateful to our foreign visitors whose donation of admissions fee help us keep the museum open and enable us to serve our local community.