Some stories about us: Kuala Lumpur National Museum

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Kuala Lumpur National Museum

National Museum is getting better, in both layout and the artifacts exhibited, a big thumb up for it! The museum is not splendid with 6000 artifacts displayed (pls. correct us if wrong), but we were quite impressed by the way that the museum delineates the history of Malaysia in a continuous storyline that spans over four galleries. On our last visit, we spent around one hour in the museum with Betty's younger sisters- Nancy and Katty.

Our photo at the side of the museum, together with one of the first steam locomotive in Malaysia.

The front side of KL National Museum. The museum was built on the former site of Selangor Museum. The project of change was initiated on 1958. The building was designed by Ho Kok Hoe, and was built by Yew Lee Company. The two large mural on the front side of the museum was made by Italian mosaic with RM 1.5 million, contributed by Dato' Lee Keng Chian, with the illustration by Cheong Lai Tong (right). The photo on the left shows the entrance of the museum.

Betty and her sisters in front of the mural of the museum.

The entrance leads to the lobby of National Museum with catchy red benches. Ceramics from the Diana shipwreck, displayed at the lobby.

Four galleries represent four different time, namely early history gallery with artifacts 10k - 1.1k years ago, the Malay Kingdoms before 1511, the colonial era of 1511 - 1945, and Malaysia today. We are sure that, everyone who visits the museum will know Malaysia better.

Some of the artifacts in Gallery A: Early History. The artifacts from neolithic age (upper left) and the 1000 years old log coffin from Sabah (upper right) are some of the objects displayed.

Gallery B: The Malay Kingdom, with the artifacts collected during the era. The statue of Avalokitesvara on lower right is dated sometime between 7th - 12th centuries AD.

The siege of Portugal upon Malacca (left), and some of the equipments used by Japanese soldiers during the World War II can be seen in Gallery C: the Colonial era.

The Sultans during the independent of Malaysia (Gallery D: Malaysia today).

Some interesting themed exhibitions that are conducted from time to time in the exhibition hall behind the main museum building can be access from the exit of the museum. During our visit in April 2011, the theme of the exhibition was "Orang Asli: Beliefs and Traditions". The exhibition was focused on the indigenous ethnics in Peninsular Malaysia.

Some of the objects displayed in the special themed exhibition.

Several antique vehicles were displayed beside the exhibition hall.

KL National Museum opens daily from 9 am - 6 pm, except the first day of Aidil Fitri and Aidil Adha. The admission fees for Malaysian adult is RM2, Malaysian elderly or disable is RM1, foreigner adult is RM5, foreigner child 6-12 years is RM2, while FOC for the rest.

KL National Museum is easy to access. It is located 500 m from KL Central Station. You can take KL Rapid Shuttle Bus no. 12 to the museum (the fare should be RM2 per trip), or you can simply go by foot from KL Central. The museum can be reached by KL Hop-On Hop-Off at Station 12. Drive a car? The parking fee is RM2 per entry. For more information about the museum, please visit the Official site of KL National Museum.

The museum is connected to National Planetarium through a walkway behind the museum (beside the toilet). You may visit planetarium together with the museum. From the planetarium, you can visit KL Bird Park (10 minutes from planetarium by foot), KL National Mosque, Merdeka Square, Sultan Abdul Samad Building and Malayan Railway Station as well.