The Sanctuary of Truth Museum

This guide to the Sanctuary of Truth in Pattaya follows Lek Viriyaphant, a Mercedes-Benz importer who had already built two museums of Thai antiquities, as he began an all-wood palace at age sixty-seven in 1981, knowing he would never see it finished. You'll hear about the centuries-old Thai joinery holding the towering structure together without a single metal nail, and why he chose a material built to crack, rot, and need constant repair. It traces his death in 2000 and what his family chose to do with an unfinished monument.