Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia

2nd May 2012, Wednesday

Introduction 

   Our group decided to go to museum after we went to Pasar Borong Selayang for interviewing the refugee he works there. Now, we would like to share about our experiences during our visit to the museum. The purpose we chose to go to this museum because of some reasons. Firstly, we would like to explore the uniqueness of culture from different background which includes national and international country. However, the exhibitions is only focusing on country who has Islamic influence. Then, we also want to learn more about other cultures that is might be differed with our culture. 

      We went there by rented car that involves all of our group members which are Liyana, Adilah, Asyikin,Syafiqah and Nabila. We reached the museum around 12.50 pm and we took about 2 hours and 30 minutes before we left the museum. As for students, we have to pay RM 6 each person. Meanwhile, for adults they have to pay RM 12 each.

     Our journey starts with many conflicts. There was raining on that time. So, we were late to start our observation. Then, we were stuck on the road because of traffic jammed.  however, we manage to finish early where there were not many visitors on that time. The lack of visitors maybe due to lack of awareness among Malaysians towards history. This is wasteful effort for the government where the citizens itself does not appreciate the effort. So now, we would explain in details about 12 galleries that we have visited.

The galleries 

Quran and manuscript gallery

firdawsi Shahnama: Poetry Illustrated manuscript

Quran stand : wood inlaid by mother -of -pearl and tortoiseshell

Quran leaf on vellum : early kufic script

mini Al-Qurans

China Gallery

some ceramic famous in Malaysia Jewellery Gallery

Torkoman woman headress

pectorial plate

Bangles

Pectorial plate was made from silver Arms and Armour Gallery

there are two major categories of Islamic arms: firearms and edged weapons. Blades have a much longer history than barrels. The greatest advance in metalworking was the development of watered steel, associated with Damascus and used throughout the Islamic world. Metal work Gallery

grain measure

Dulang

grain measure

Living with woods Gallery

wood throne: carved with Quranic verses maybe comes from Deccan, Mughali, India

khatib chair : silver and ladder was used by Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj and was presented by India

Architecture Gallery

 Al-haram Mosques, Saudi Arabia

 Taj Mahal, Mugal, India
Emperor Shah Jahan built the celebrated Taj Mahal in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal.

 Mosque at Daxuexi Lane, Xi'an, China
This mosque consists of Chinese elements such as pagoda, freestanding gateways, and the moon pavilion minaret. 

 Kampung Laut Mosque, Kelantan, Malaysia

 Tengkera Mosque, Malacca, Malaysia

The mosques in Malaysia is quite different to each other although they are built in the same country. This happened because of the cultural influence in each state. Each state consists people with different custom and culture although they share the same religion (Islam). This can be seen from the pictures above where the Kelantan mosque and Malacca mosque have different architechture.

Wadi Hussain's Mosque, Pattani, Thailand
This mosque was contructed entirely of wood and survive today until now. This mosque is one of the oldest mosques in Thailand.

Every county has their own design or architecture that can be observed on mosque buildings which happened because of the cultural differences. 


India Gallery

 Fly Whisk

Sword and Scabbard 

 Gunpowder horn and powder flask

Wood throne


Coins Gallery

Collection of coins

Malay world

 Traditional Female Baju Kurung

Jewellery 

Traditional Male Baju Kurung


Textiles

Conclusions 

     As for the conclusions, we believed that there are pros and cons from our visits about the museum. So, we would like to share our point of view about the weaknesses from the visits. Firstly, this museum is complete with many facilities that are very modern and advance. However, it cannot be compared with small number of visitors there. Most of the visitors on that time come are international tourists. Local citizen should show their interest to visit the museum so that to support the effort of our government. Secondly, most of the historical heritage came from Asian countries. The exhibition might be more interesting if the heritage come from western country who influenced by Islam ever little. The visitors can get more advantages as they get whole picture of the uniqueness from different cultures. 

      Now, we will explain about the strengths that we got from our observations. Firstly, we can say that the exhibitions covers all aspect of people lives in the olden days. For example, the exhibitions includes architecture, textiles, coins and seal, arms and armour and etc. Then, it was not difficult for us to explore the whole building where it is organized systematically. We were provided with the maps so that it easier for us to observe. Then, every item will also provided with an explanation  in two languages which are Malay language and English language. So it make the visitors easy to understand. 

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