ITB Berlin News 2021 - Day 2 Edition
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CULTURE<br />
Southeast Asia’s new<br />
cultural highpoint<br />
Malaysia’s biggest, most spectacular new<br />
museum set to open in Kuching in 2020<br />
It’s set to become the “shining star” of Malaysia’s, and indeed the<br />
entire region’s cultural scene. Sarawak’s new state museum in<br />
Kuching – Malaysia’s biggest, the second biggest in Southeast<br />
Asia – will open to the public later this year.<br />
The new museum and annexe are part<br />
of the Sarawak Museum campus, which<br />
also includes the old Sarawak Museum,<br />
the Natural History Museum, and the Art<br />
Museum.<br />
The new 30,000 sq m building will ensure<br />
that the Sarawak heritage, in the form of<br />
a wide array of collections, is safely and<br />
securely stored, preserved, documented,<br />
researched and well exhibited,<br />
according to the latest standards by the<br />
International Council of Museums.<br />
The new five-storey building will have<br />
exhibition spaces on Levels 2 through 5,<br />
on two wings flanking a central atrium.<br />
Level 1 will house commercial lots, a café,<br />
function rooms and auditorium spaces,<br />
supporting and complementing the<br />
exhibition gallery.<br />
The main building is connected to a threestorey<br />
annexe, housing the museum’s<br />
offices, conservation and research<br />
spaces, library and archives, while the<br />
entire basement level is a dedicated<br />
storage area.<br />
The property has been under construction<br />
since 2014, at a cost of around €70 m. It<br />
is Malaysia’s first museum to be Green<br />
Building Index (GBI) certified. Ecofriendly<br />
building materials include timber<br />
products certified by the Programme for<br />
the Endorsement of Forest Certification<br />
(PEFC) for the floors and interior wall<br />
panels. Following the demolition of the<br />
Dewan Tun Abdul Razak building to make<br />
way for the new museum, conscious<br />
efforts were also made to retain the<br />
large trees on site and to preserve the<br />
surrounding context as much as possible.<br />
While the building was completed last<br />
August, with an official hand-over<br />
ceremony attended by Minister of<br />
Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports<br />
Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah,<br />
opening time is slated for later this year.<br />
When complete, visitors will embark upon<br />
an interactive journey through Sarawak’s<br />
history, and the lifestyles of the state’s<br />
numerous ethnic communities.<br />
The Sarawak Museum had long been<br />
hailed as one of the best in this part of<br />
the world, with its old wing dating back<br />
to 1891. The new building will serve as a<br />
centre of learning, hosting international<br />
scholars to collaborate with local<br />
curators on documenting the material<br />
knowledge of Borneo’s rich past, along<br />
with its cultures, people and nature.<br />
It aims to establish Sarawak as a new<br />
global focal point for work in the field of<br />
anthropology<br />
www.sarawaktourism.com<br />
SMART GUIDE 7