SMARTguide - Sarawak

CULTURE
Southeast Asia’s new
cultural highpoint
Malaysia’s biggest, most spectacular new
museum set to open in Kuching in 2020
It’s set to become the “shining star” of Malaysia’s, and indeed the
entire region’s cultural scene. Sarawak’s new state museum in
Kuching – Malaysia’s biggest, the second biggest in Southeast
Asia – will open to the public later this year.
The new museum and annexe are part
of the Sarawak Museum campus, which
also includes the old Sarawak Museum,
the Natural History Museum, and the Art
Museum.
The new 30,000 sq m building will ensure
that the Sarawak heritage, in the form of
a wide array of collections, is safely and
securely stored, preserved, documented,
researched and well exhibited,
according to the latest standards by the
International Council of Museums.
The new five-storey building will have
exhibition spaces on Levels 2 through 5,
on two wings flanking a central atrium.
Level 1 will house commercial lots, a café,
function rooms and auditorium spaces,
supporting and complementing the
exhibition gallery.
The main building is connected to a threestorey
annexe, housing the museum’s
offices, conservation and research
spaces, library and archives, while the
entire basement level is a dedicated
storage area.
The property has been under construction
since 2014, at a cost of around €70 m. It
is Malaysia’s first museum to be Green
Building Index (GBI) certified. Ecofriendly
building materials include timber
products certified by the Programme for
the Endorsement of Forest Certification
(PEFC) for the floors and interior wall
panels. Following the demolition of the
Dewan Tun Abdul Razak building to make
way for the new museum, conscious
efforts were also made to retain the
large trees on site and to preserve the
surrounding context as much as possible.
While the building was completed last
August, with an official hand-over
ceremony attended by Minister of
Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports
Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah,
opening time is slated for later this year.
When complete, visitors will embark upon
an interactive journey through Sarawak’s
history, and the lifestyles of the state’s
numerous ethnic communities.
The Sarawak Museum had long been
hailed as one of the best in this part of
the world, with its old wing dating back
to 1891. The new building will serve as a
centre of learning, hosting international
scholars to collaborate with local
curators on documenting the material
knowledge of Borneo’s rich past, along
with its cultures, people and nature.
It aims to establish Sarawak as a new
global focal point for work in the field of
anthropology
www.sarawaktourism.com
SMART GUIDE 7