Shan State Museum

State museum with tribal artefacts, opium weights, and musical instruments

Also known as the Taunggyi Museum, this state museum houses a well-curated collection of artefacts from the many ethnic groups of Shan State. The tribal costume displays are among the best of their kind in Myanmar, presenting the distinct textiles and jewellery of the Pa-O, Palaung, Danu, Lahu, Akha, and Shan peoples alongside explanatory panels in Burmese and sometimes English.

The instrument collection includes an extraordinary snakeskin guitar and a variety of Shan and Pa-O percussion instruments. The opium weights section is historically significant — these small bronze animal figures were used as standardised measures in the opium trade that historically dominated the plateau's economy. There are also weapons, royal regalia, and lacquerware.

The museum is not large but the quality of the exhibits is high. Allow about an hour. Opening hours are roughly 9am to 4pm, Tuesday to Sunday; check locally as hours can vary. Entry fee is modest.

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A story
Among the museum's most unusual exhibits are the antique opium weights — small bronze animals cast in the shapes of lions, elephants, and mythical creatures. Standardised by the Burmese royal court, these weights were used throughout the Shan hills for centuries to measure opium, the plateau's main cash crop before poppy eradication programmes dramatically reduced cultivation.