The cultural and historical gems are quietly tucked away in Kelantan as there is not much publicity about it. Predominantly a Muslim state, Kelantan is a treasure trove of Malay cultural heritage that has been preserved from a long time ago. Kelantan is also home to a host of museums. Most of these museums are under the purview of the Kelantan State Museum Corporation.
The cultural and historical gems are quietly tucked away in Kelantan as there is not much publicity about it. Predominantly a Muslim state, Kelantan is a treasure trove of Malay cultural heritage that has been preserved from a long time ago.
The state is claimed to be the birth place of many traditional arts of Malaysia, ranging from traditional games, including kites to performing arts and textiles.
Kelantan is also home to a host of museums. Most of these museums are under the purview of the Kelantan State Museum Corporation.
State Museum
The Kelantan State Museum is located in Jalan Hospital in Kota Bharu. It is housed in the former Land Office building. The Land Office occupied that building since the colonial days until 1990.
Major renovation works were carried out on the building to turn it into the State Museum. The exhibits in this museum include traditional arts of Kelantan; artefacts and documents on Kelantan’s arts, crafts and musical traditions and instruments.
Additionally, the museum also exhibits the evidences of trade relations between Kelantan and China, which include archaeological artefacts from sites along the Nenggiri River.
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Wau Museum
The Wau Museum is located at a coastal area at Pantai Sri Tujuh in Tumpat. It is only a small museum that exhibits the various types and designs of large kites or wau in Malaysia.
Other than the kites or wau (are known as layang-layang in some state in Malaysia) on display, the museum also provides instructions on how to make a wau, which is mainly made from bamboo frame and coloured paper. There are also directions on how to fly a kite.
As kite flying is a game enjoyed by many people in the world, there are also displays of kites from other countries.
Apparently, each kite design has its own theme. For example, a Wau Bulan, which happens to be the most iconic wau in Kelantan represents a moon. The design of Wau Kucing, on the other hand is inspired by the face of a cat.
The Wau Museum is located near to the venue of the Kelantan International Kite Festival. The festival is normally held at Pantai Sri Tujuh or Pantai Genting in Tumpat.
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Handicraft Museum
The Handicraft Museum is located at Jalan Hospital, Kota Bharu. The museum offers an insight of the history and development of various arts and handicrafts of Kelantan. These include batik, wau, songket and wood carvings.
The details of making the handicrafts are also illustrated in this museum. Lucky visitors will get to see the demonstrations on making some of the handicrafts in the museum. These include traditional embroidery, songket weaking, batik painting, silversmithing, wau making, wood carving and matting.
Visitors to the museum also have the opportunity to purchase the various art and craft products as souvenirs. The museum is also popularly known as Balai Getam Guri.
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Istana Jahar Museum
Istana Jahar was built in 1887 to be used as a royal residence. The palace, which covers 1,882 square meters was named Jahar, after the Jahar tree, which could be found in the palace grounds at that time.
The entire palace is built of tropical hardwood and its wall panels are intricately carved. It has a pentagon-shaped porch and the balcony above was used by the royal family to watch ceremonies that were held in the courtyard.
In 1992, the palace was converted into a museum and the building now belongs to the Kelantan State Museum Corporation. Also known as the Kelantan Traditional Royal Ceremonies Museum, it is a treasure trove of Kelantan royal family history. The exhibits include royal regalia, jewellery, costumes and photographs. It also displays the royal lineage of Kelantan.
It is an eye opener for visitors to the museum, especially on royal rituals, which include wedding, birth, circumcision, head shaving, eating, bathing and funerals. The platform where the royal ceremonial bathing took place is exhibited outside the museum. The platform looks like a gazebo.
Additionally, there is a gallery that showcases traditional weapons used in the palace. These include keris, lembing, kelewang and badik. Carriages and canoes used by the royalty and palace staff in the past are exhibited in the courtyard, outside the museum.
Istana Jahar is located in Kota Bharu, next to the Istana Balai Besar or Grand Palace and the Kota Sultan Ismail Petra Archway.
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Istana Batu Royal Museum
Istana Batu was built in 1939 as a wedding gift from the Sultan to his consort, the Raja Perempuan. The palace was used as the official residence until it was converted into a museum.
The palace is named Istana Batu because it was built of concrete and mortar, unlike Istana Jahar and other palaces in the past, which were built of wood.
The palace was converted into a museum in 1991 and the furnishings in the palace remain unchanged. The dining room is elegantly adorned with complete tableware for sixteen people. The bedroom with its bedside cabinets and beds remains the same. Silverware, glassware and fine China are displayed in the cabinets. Souvenirs and gifts received by the royal family are also on display. Photographs and the genealogy of the royal family, artefacts and costumes are also on display in this museum.
It is one of its kind museums in Malaysia because it enables the visitors to learn and imagine themselves living the life of a royalty at that time.
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Islamic Museum
The Kelantan Islamic Museum is located in Kota Bharu, near to Masjid Muhammadi, War Museum (Bank Kerapu) and Padang Merdeka. It is housed in a 1902 building made from cengal, a high-quality tropical wood. The building was the official residence of the Chief Minister of Kelantan.
Some of the wall panels in this building are adorned with decorative carvings known as Janda Berhias. It is a method popular in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The building has a multi-tiered roof known as Bumbung Lima Bungkus. Clay roof tiles known as Genting Singgora are used on this building.
The porch of this building is a look-alike of the one at Istana Jahar and Istana Balai Besar. The design of this building features that of the late 19th and early 20th century Malay-Kelantan-Patani architectural style. The windows and doors on the exterior as well as the interior demonstrate artistic excellence of the craftsmen in the past.
The building was converted into an office and a school in 1917 when the Kelantan Islamic Councill took over. The building went through renovation and upgrading works several times over the years – in 1917, 1962, 1991 and 2007. Massive renovation and upgrading works were carried out in 1991 to convert the building into a museum.
As its name suggests, the museum relates the arrival of Islam in Kelantan, how Kelantan gained its title the Veranda of Mecca or Serambi Mekah and how Islam as a religion spreads in Kelantan.
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Bank Kerapu
Bank Kerapu is a World War 2 Museum in Kelantan. It is housed in a building that used to be a bank, hence the name Bank Kerapu.
The building was built in 1922 to house the Mercantile Bank of India, which initially opened a branch in Kelantan in 1912. It was the first commercial bank in Kelantan. The building served a dual purpose – the banking hall on the ground floor and the manager’s living quarters on the top floor. The locals referred the bank as Bank Kerapu because of the rough texture of the outer wall of the building.
The building changed hands during the Japanese occupation in World War 2. It was used by the Japanese military police, which converted the bank vault into a lock-up. After the war, the building was used again as a bank. Mercantile Bank of India was taken over by The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank in 1959.
In 1991, the building was converted into the World War 2 Memorial or the War Museum. The museum exhibits materials relating to the war, historical events that took place in the state and the struggle to achieve independence. There are artefacts and photographs on the Japanese invasion of Malaya until they surrender in 1945.
A replica of the pillboxes which the British constructed along the beach of Kelantan as well as an armoured tank and land vehicles used by the British army are exhibited at the front portion of the museum.
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Balai Seni Lukis
The Kelantan Balai Seni Lukis is located in Kota Bharu, adjacent to the Kelantan Tourist Information Centre.
The building that is occupied by this gallery used to house the office of the British advisor. In fact, change of use in this building happened several times before it became the Balai Seni. After the British moved out from Malaya, the building was converted into the Kelantan government’s Land Office – Pejabat Lembaga Kemajuan Tanah Negeri Kelantan (LKTN) and Pejabat Pembangunan Pemulihan Tanah Negeri Kelantan (TAKDIR). In 1990, it became the office of the Kelantan Amateur Football Association. The football association occupied the building until 2006.
In 2008, the Kelantan State Museum Corporation took ownership of the building and converted it into an art gallery, hence Balai Seni Lukis Kelantan. Renovation works of this gallery took four years to complete. The gallery was officially opened in December 2013.
It is a two-storey building, wherein the ground floor is used to exhibit the gallery’s collection of paintings. The top floor comprises an exhibition hall for Kelantan’s artists as well as space for workshops and art competitions.
Before shifting to its present site, the Balai Seni was housed in the building that is presently occupied by the Kelantan State Museum. The gallery occupied the space there from 1992 until the renovation works of the present building completed in end 2012. However, prior to 1991, the Balai Seni was housed in the present War Museum or Bank Kerapu building.
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