SE ASIA'S BEST MUSEUM: The Ayala Museum

We found another one of Southeast Asia’s Best Museums. This is actually what me and my friends came here for – check this building out and that special collection on the 4th floor.

We loitered, sashayed, gawked, sashayed some more, had coffee, loitered even longer and spent the whole darn rainy day in and around the “legendary” Ayala Museum. I say “legendary” because since we saw that docu (by Che-che) on satellite telly a few months ago, we were itching (like scabies) to come over and check it out.

The Ayala Museum was established in 1967 by the Ayala Foundation Inc., owned by the prominent Ayala family. One of the most modern in the country. It is an Art & History museum showcasing works of famous Filipino masters and their recent collection has drawn visitors from all over the world *including me, me and me!*.

I am prepared to talk about the Gold of Ancestors Exhibit on the 4th floor all day but my friends say we should also mention about the other exhibits on the floors below – there, I mentioned it already. Can I continue? Good. Now, listen....
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The Gold of Ancestors exhibit is the most exciting, exhilarating, thrilling (and to some extent, drooling) pieces of evidence that the Philippines has their OWN identity before their colonizers.

A whopping 1,059 gold objects (jewelleries!, accessories, sabre and all things wonderful) is a new permanent exhibition from the 10th-13th century. Its’ importance to RE-WRITING history is like a refreshing ray of sunshine…

A golden “kinnari” (deformed, photo below) suggests that the people of Southern Philippines (Surigao) share similar cultures with Mainland Southeast Asia and Indonesia. I told you! We are brothers! Goddammit. You won’t believe me – why is it all about Spain, Spain, Spain?! Wake up already! Ha! Nothing wrong with being similar to our neighbors.

The centrepiece *drumroll*, is a 4kg-pure-gold belt (an Upativa, a Hindu term for the “Sacred Thread”). You have to check it out to believe it!

No cameras allowed in the museum *I don't even know where other blogs got theirs!*. Ok, I can live with that. But I can assure you…I will never forget the images that I saw in there for a long, long time. The thrill that I felt that a nation, trying so hard to find its identity, has finally found it.

Visit the Ayala Museum – highly recommended and worth the trip. Located on the corner of Makati Ave. and De la Rosa Sts. in Makati City. It’s easy to find amidst the Ayala Center shopping mecca. Open between 9am-6pm [Tue-Fri] 10am-7pm [Weekends] Closed on Mondays. Admission fee is Php450 (300Baht, US$10, 30 Ringgit) for foreigners. They also got a fantastic coffee shop and the mandatory souvenir shop in the building. Senior citizens (local or foreign) gets a discount!.

The Ayala Museum and its' Gold of Ancestors Exhibit –

Treasures of Southeast Asia.

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**2nd & 3rd photo courtesy of the Ayala Museum official website.

Southeast Asia's NATIONAL MUSEUMS

"Our national museums remind us where we’ve been, reveals where we are and hold clues to where we are going as a nation."

--Pisanu

Here are the 10 Most Important Buildings of Southeast Asia in its entirety...


Brunei Museum
Jalan Kota Batu, BS Begawan


National Museum of Myanmar (Burma)
66/74, Pyay Road, Dagon, Yangon


National Museum of Cambodia
Ang Eng (St. 13) Cor. St. 184, Phnom Penh (near the Royal Palace)


Museum Nasional Indonesia
Jalan Merdeka Barat, Indonesia
http://museumnasional.org/

Lao National Museum
Samsenthai Road, Vientiane


National Museum of the Filipino People
Rizal Park, Manila (near the Dept. of Finance Bldg.)


Muzium Negara Malaysia
Perdana Lake Gardens, Jalan Damansara, Kuala Lumpur


National Museum of Singapore
93 Stamford Road, Singapore


National Museum of Thailand
Sanam Luang, Bangkok (near the Grand Palace)


National Museum of Vietnamese History
Trang Tien St, Hanoi


The mirror images of our peoples.

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***If any one has information on the National Museum of Timor Leste, please share it here. Thanks.

SOUTHEAST ASIA’S BEST MUSEUM: Muzium Kesenian Islam Malaysia

With 10 years of extensive travel in the whole of Southeast Asia, I have never seen any museum quite like it. I will not play safe, so I’ll say it bluntly – this is utterly the best museum in our region. *no appeals would be entertained*

The Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur is Southeast Asia’s largest museum of Islamic art. From curious gears to bedazzling jewelries, from ancient scripts to more bedazzling jewelries, and from exotic textile designs to yet more bedazzling jewelries!

You will see thousands of fascinating things -- The intricate details of Islamic designs from the Mid-East, China, India and Southeast Asia, the heritage, the weapons, the tapestries, the cool scale models, all of ‘em! And…have I mentioned bedazzling jewelries already?

There are 12 galleries and the exhibits are quite straight forward. No unnecessary banners and flyers, no fancy gimmicks -- Just pleasingly simple, well-lit presentation. At first, it looks plain...but if you look closely on the walls, the floor, the cieling... the intricate details are there!

The museum was officially opened on 12 December 1998 as a gift to the good people of Malaysia (and us, of course) from the Albukhary Foundation.

Location: Jalan Lembah Perdana in Kuala Lumpur. A few minutes walk from the National Mosque or the Lake Gardens. Visiting hours: 10am to 6pm; Tuesdays-Sundays and public holidays; Closed on Mondays. Entrance fee: 12 Ringgit (US$3.50/120 Baht) for adults, half the price for visitors below 18 y.o. and senior citizens. And FREE for kids below 6 (providing you don’t let them run around and ruin the exhibits! Ha!)

Southeast Asia’s most fascinating and best presented museum is the MUZIUM KESENIAN ISLAM MALAYSIA (its local name). Believe me. You gotta see it. You’d come out inspired, educated and overwhelmed with what you just saw.

When you’re in Kuala Lumpur, check their ongoing exhibitions here.

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