Today, Tuesday 11th August 2020, was always destined as our museum day in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. We had visited museums in every part of this journey, so now we wanted to see how the country presented itself in the National Museum of Malaysia. We discovered that all the state museums tended to show the same assortment of objects; royal regalia, kerises, costumes, and jewellery. And some were better than others at presenting their stories in English to foreigners eagre to learn about Malaysian history.
You should by now be able to recognise the gateway into the museum complex. Below left is the gateway in Alor Setar (Day 9), and below right is the gateway in Kota Kuala Kedah (Day 11).
Being the National Museum, this one had to show more of a variety of objects, and each object was presumably the best available anywhere in the country. And naturally we have a replica throne, this one being the Royal Throne of Perak.
Nothing about historical Malaysia looked comfortable! Just see these shoes and the belt buckles which must have dug into the body a little when sitting crosslegged on the floor.
And here is a Bunga Mas, or Golden Flower, which was a special gift sent every three years by the Sultans of the Northern Malay States of Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Patani to the once powerful King of Siam in Bangkok, as a symbol of friendship, or in recognition of their suzerainty.
This tradition started in the 14th century when a procession set off from Malaya carrying the Bunga Mas, four spears with gilded shafts, a keris encrusted with precious stones, a spittoon, a tobacco box, a bouquet of betel leaves, and two rings. The King of Siam was then expected to reciprocate with gifts of similar value. This custom continued up to the end of the 19th century with the establishment of British rule.
The museum devoted much space to the developent of trade and industry in the country, but one didn’t feel inclined to stay too long in this part of the museum as the airconditioning was under repair and the galleries were stiffling and hot.
If it had been cooler, I might have spent more time watching their film footage of historical events, although the most interesting ones did not have English subtitles so were a bit hard going. However, the largest video screen was devoted to what I presume was The Building of the Nation, i.e., the disposal of the British! There was a lot of emphasis on the role of all races (Malay, Chinese, and Indian) in the building of Malaysia and there was nothing subtle about the message being presented.
We did pop into the Musical Gallery around the back of the main museum, but it lacked music! There is also an Orang Asli Gallery in this complex but we had had enough for the morning. So we had some typical Malay buffet food in the museum’s cafe and continued on to our next destination for the day.
As luck would have it, it turned out that our friend Asad Sultan’s brother had worked in the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia and Asad knew one of the curators there. So, we were introduced to Rekha Verma, Head of Collections & Exhibitions Manager at the museum. She very generously spent some time showing us around and we fell in love with this museum. It seemed to get everything right! We were welcomed at the reception counter, we were given a floor guide and a voucher for the museum’s cafe. We were rarely welcomed at any of the other museums we had visited, in fact the indifference of the staff was notable, with a guard at one the the old Malay houses in Alor Setar being the exception. All the exhibits were well lit and easy to see, there was a museum shop with beautiful objects for sale and a huge book section, and there were educational classes (currently halted) to help young and old learn more about the techniques used to make Islamic Art. This was a museum I would happily return to.
I will show just a few examples of what you can see here, and for the rest, please check out my slide show for Day 21 on our Malaysian Travels Facebook page. The large blue dish below is a Baba Nakkash Iznik charger plate, crafted for the Ottoman sultans in 1480 AD. This is one of only five such pieces in the world, so is rare and priceless.
At the smaller end of the scale, we have these fabulous brooches. The highlight brooch in the middle is The Order of the Sun, and is about 3 inches across (photo below left). It was presented to Queen Victoria, Queen Augusta of Germany, and the Shah’s wife, Anis-al-Dowlah, in 1873 during Nasser al-Din Shah’s European tour.
I cannot recall the description of the object in the photo on the right, but isn't it gorgeous! There are 12 galleries in this museum, and they are all filled with exquisite pieces of art, textiles, jewellery, furniture, costumes, religious manuscripts, china, and weapons.
On the top gallery you could walk amongst miniture versions of some of the world’s most important mosques…
And even the ceilings of the galleries were exhibits in themselves, crafted by artesans from overseas.
And the Damascus Room (shown below) is considered one of the highlights of the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia. It is the only one of its kind still preserved intact in South East Asia and is dated to 1820-1821 AD. It is a reminder to us of the importance of colour throughout history, and one wonders how much colour was used inside the old wooden Malay houses we have seen on this trip.
Next time I visit the museum, I must remember to time my visit better to take advantage of the Middle Eastern restaurant they have here (Moza). We just had a drink and a hot apple turnover, but that was enough to return for.
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Click here to read how Lawrence Gray Was bowled over by the Islamic Arts Museum in Kuala Lumpur.
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