"Peel it. Feel it.": Museum Day: The Day of Memories and Creativity

Tuesday, 28 May 2013

Museum Day: The Day of Memories and Creativity

Date : 25th May 2013

Day : Saturday

Time : 10:30 a.m- 04:20 p.m

Last Saturday, when the sky was very clear and the day was very nice, we (me and my family) decided to harvest some knowledge. I mean, we went to the museum. At Kuching, there were some exhibitions and cultural exposures and the heritage promotions. Really, that day was awesome and full of awesomeness. Tell me, which nation hates history? History makes us for what we are today.

Held for many times and with many themes, this year, Kuching becomes the main spot for the international's museum day, with Peninsular's museums and West-Kalimantan, the Province Museum. With the theme 'Memories and Creativity' or 'Kenangan dan Kreativiti', it really brought my childhood's passion through the collections of old-fermented reptiles, dusty jars, death bodies, ancient weapons, and blood mark over the Japanese flag- okay, it's sounds unnecessarily a childhood's passion but to be honest, that makes me a happy child.

Luckily, this year is the 50th anniversary of independence for Sarawak, used to be call as the Sarawak Kingdom in the past. With 12 museums, 8 at Kuching (Museum of Islamic Heritage, Tun Abdul Razak Hall, Ethnology Museum, Art Museum, Museum of Natural History, Textile Museum, Museum of Chinese History, Fort Margherita),2 at Miri (Petroleum Museum, Museum of Niah Archaeology), 1 at Baram (Museum of Baram District or known as Fort Hose) and 1 at Limbang (Museum of Limbang District). There were several exhibition booths from others such as Kelantan Museum, National Textile Museum, Police Museum, Museum of Asian Art etc. There were some shows such as batik-making, the 'zapin' dance from Johor, the snake-and-ladder game, back-to-60s and a lot more.

On that day, I spent my time shooting some pictures, bought some good things (books, of course and it's very hard to get), enjoy the show, watching the rain, visit the museums and smiling all the way home. But I just realized a bit change of Iban longhouse in Ethnology Museum- or we just called it as Sarawak Museum; the second floor is gone, the unique stair made of bamboo or wood is also gone, and the skeleton's head is definitely gone. Besides, few items were gone too, such as the explicit images of tribal's exact life (which is so explicit- I mean it), the tribal's statue (another explicit thing and a bit scary), and few bloody old weapons. I guess, they had kept the gruesome stuff at somewhere else- and I missed them all.

Meanwhile, the Tun Abdul Razak Hall contains a great good thing I never knew before;

The bronze statue of the Malaysian's Father of Independence,
The white-stone statue of the Second Rajah of Sarawak,
The old-and-gold sword of the First Rajah,
The old logbook of Brooke dynasties,
The collections of old stamps, old money and coins,
The replicas of items from many dynasties,
The exposure of archaeology sites at Santubong and Bongkissam,
The other archaeology sites at Sarawak such as Kampung Senangeh, Bukit Sandong, Kampung Gumpey, Ensika, Kampung Benat and Kampung Lebur,
The exposure of the Sultanate of Brunei through the old Sarawak,
The ancient Borneo-tribal items such as music, clothes, food and lifestyle.
And the antique-gift shop inside the hall where I bought old books that I can't get from the usual bookstore. Before I forgot, there were unique and awesome collections of old things you might like from that shop. Go and visit there if you come to Kuching.

Museum Day was great day for my historical memories and creativity =)

The day through pictures>>>

The collections of Tekat (the art of stitching with gold yarn) at Perak Museum's booth

The collections of Wayang Kulit (the perfoming art using puppets made from leathers
and sang a traditional song, previously from Hindu's epic hymns and stories)
at Kedah Museum's booth