Kuala Lumpur
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Kuala Lumpur City Gallery
After taking Yassin and his cousin to KL Children’s Library, we visited Kuala Lumpur City Gallery. It is a great learning experience for them and for me as well. We learned some great history; what influenced the architecture, why some roads are higher than the shophouses, old road names and many more. Did you know that Jalan Sultan Ismail was previously known as Treacher Road? And did you know Jalan Masjid India was formerly known as Dickson Street? I bet you didn’t! A reason for you to visit the gallery as well.
Kuala Lumpur City Gallery is located in a 114 years old building formerly known as The Government Printing Office. The admission is free. Upon entering, there is a big map of Kuala Lumpur and illustrations of buildings as well as information about the type of buildings.
When we entered the Memories of Kuala Lumpur exhibit area, we were blown away by the miniature replica models. My son, Yassin, loves to look at building models since he was little and I just let him enjoy the models.
Other than models, there are exhibits of old photographs, maps and newspaper spread of Straits Times (published in 1971).
There are also timeline panels of historical events that took place in KL as well as notable historical buildings around KL. I think I will cover these buildings individually on my next posts. After reading and admiring the exhibits, we went into a dark room of diorama models of Merdeka Square and Chinatown.
And later, on the way out we passed by a room full of handmade crafts capturing the heritage, arts and culture of KL as well as the country. These gifts were made by ARCH – the official souvenir of Kuala Lumpur, endorsed by City Hall.
We bought some small gifts as well as postcards. And last but not least, we took pictures at the I-LOVE-KL structure as well as big die-cut print illustration of KL buildings.
We love the learning experience and all the handmade building models made by ARCH. Do visit the Kuala Lumpur City Gallery and learn about the history of Kuala Lumpur.
Here’s some information about the gallery:
– Website: klcitygallery.com
– Address: No. 27, Jalan Raja, Dataran Merdeka, 50050 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
– Telephone: +6 03 2698 3333
– Operating time: 8am – 6pm dailyHow to get there:
– Kuala Lumpur City Gallery is accessible by bus, taxi or LRT.
– A seven-minute walk to Kuala Lumpur City Gallery from the Masjid Jamek Station (LRT).
– A five-minute walk from Central Market.
– It is also within the route of the KL Hop-On Hop-Off City Tour. -
KL Children’s Library
Yassin has been a member of KL Children’s Library since last year and the last time we went was February 2012. Since it is now school holiday, I took him and his cousin to the library to read books. They have been in front of the computer too long.
While he was reading, I drew the inside on the library. I wanted to show what it is like in the library but cannot do so as taking picture is not allowed in the library.
6KL Children’s Library has quite an impressive collection of good picture and fiction books not to mention references. Other than books, this library also offers activities such as storytelling, board games and multimedia experience especially for members who are at the age between 4 to 12 years old. Do enquire the schedule of activities from the counter as activities vary from time to time.
Below is some details about the library:
How to become a member—Bring your kids MyKids or Birth Certificiate (passport for expatriate) and pay RM6. You’ll get the membership card in about an hour.
Location—No. 1, Jalan Raja, Kuala Lumpur (near the Merdeka Square, just opposite Royal Selangor Club)
Admission—free.
Contact—Telephone: 03-26123514 | e-mail: pkl@dbkl.gov.my
Operating time
Monday : 2.00pm – 6.45pm
Tuesday to Friday: 10.00am – 6.45pm
Saturday & Sunday: 10.00am – 5.00pm
Public Holiday /First weekend: CloseI totally recommend this library. Unlike the children section at National Library, this library is more quieter and more organised. Bear in mind that the librarians are quite strict here but I think this is a good effort to discipline our kids as library is meant to be a reading place and not a place to run or make noise.
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Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia
Few weeks back my son told me that he would love to visit the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM) as Mualim Fadzli (his Agama school teacher) told him about the Quran exhibition at the museum. And yesterday, the first day of 2nd term school holiday, my husband and I took him to IAMM. Frankly, me myself have been wanting to go for quite sometimes already to see the magnificent Islamic arts collection from around the world. I seriously do not why it took me so long to visit IAMM but I totally blame the there-is always-tomorrow attitude that I have in me. KL and Selangor has been my home for the past 33 years and it is shameful of me to visit less than 50% of the attractions. And for that matter, I am going to explore KL/Selangor this school holiday. Expect more jalan-jalan entries from me.
Admission to the museum is RM6 for student and RM12 for adult.Established in 1998, IAMM has become one of the world’s leading museum dedicated to Islamic Arts. It houses more than 7000 artefacts from around the world, mostly from Persia and the Middle East as well as Southeast Asia; namely China, India and Malaysia. There all altogether 12 galleries here but below are some of my favourite galleries.
The Architecture Gallery. This permanent gallery showcases scale models of selected mosques in the effort to convey the splendour of Islamic architecture. These range from the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina to the Daxuexi Mosque in Xian, China. To give a more intimate impression of these sacred spaces, IAMM made the effort to re-create a mosque interior in this gallery. The exhibition is divided into 6 sections representing the major typological divisions of architecture erected within the Islamic lands. Al Haram Mosque and Prophet’s Mosque (Nabawi) are two that represents the sacred topographies. This followed by Religious and Funerary Architecture, Fortress and City, Palace, Garden and Pavilion& Tents.
The Prophet’s Mosque (Nabawi), Medina, saudi Arabia 7th Century AD. This mosque was constructed shortly after the Prophet (PBUH) migrated from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD.
Daxuexi Mosque, Xi’an, China, 684AD. This mosque was built during the Tang Dynasty. The mosque very much illustrates the Chinese architecture.
The Quran & Manuscript Gallery. I found that the Quran collection is amazing. Love the original exhibits of Quran and the stories of the use of media and the art behind it. Some of the Qurans here originated from Turkey, Iran, Java, Uzbezkistan, China, India and even Malaysia.
Al-Quran from Terengganu, Malaysia. 18th CenturyAD.
Quran leaf on vellum. Early kufic script, North Africa or Middle East, 750-800 AD. Contains Surah al-Araf, verses 157-161.Textile Gallery. Collection here are mostly from the eastern end of Islam. The Safavids and Mughals were responsible for some of the greatest advances in the field. Elaborate woven silks and brilliant colour-fast dyes for cottons were hugely popular. Above all, the intricate plant motifs developed in Kashmir made their mark on the world, most notably as the shawls that were later copied by the workshops of Paisley in Scotland.
Textiles were used for decorative as well as sartorial purposes. With the nomadic origins of so many of Islam’s ruling dynasties, it was inevitable that they would continue to value the portability of textiles. For the rest of society, nostalgia played a smaller part than practicality. With a general scarcity of wood, woven products were the obvious choice for wall and floor coverings.
Here are some of my favourites:
I am really happy to visit IAMM. When asked which galleries he likes the most, Yassin told me that he likes The Quran Gallery and the Arms & Armour Gallery. Other galleries here include Jewellery, Arms & Armour, Living with Wood, Coins & Seals, Metalwork and Ceramic & Glassware. While facilities include Children’s Library, Museum Shop, Museum Restaurant, Fountain Garden and many more. For convenience of visitors, IAMM provides postal services. Admission for student is RM6 and adult RM12. Free for children below 6. IAMM open from Monday to Sunday as well as public holidays from 10am to 6pm.
Go check Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia tomorrow. Or the day after tomorrow. Or the day after that. But please don’t take 14 years to visit like me.
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Colorful Dutamas!
I was driving to Publika, Jalan Dutamas 1, earlier today when I noticed colorful bricks at a cemented slope at a corner of the road, not far from Publika. I told my niece, that we should take picturesof the painted bricks. After handing over my commissioned paintings to Sharmila at the Art Row, I made that stop at the corner. As I didn’t bring my camera, I just took some pictures with my hand phone.
I am not sure of the motive but I am loving the idea. I noticed that the colors are quite fluorescent and thought to myself, these can act as reflectors at night. I hope someone who lives there would pass by this little blog one day and enlight me with the information. Till that happens, enjoy this picture!
Jalan Dutamas 1 corner, Dutamas, KL.
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KL Illustrations: Sultan Abdul Samad building
Phew! Been working on it for few days already and just finished this today. The details took me some times to finish but I enjoyed every minute of it.
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Shipwreck Treasures
Went for a jogging this morning and suddenly my son saw a sign showing the way to the museum and insisted that we head our way there. As I am not that fond using the underpass connecting Lake Garden and National Museum (the smell is terrible), I drove to the museum after warming down.
The both of us were really sweaty and smelly. Haha. The air-conditioning during our 5 minutes drive to the museum did not really help.
There’s a new exhibition at Muzium Negara (National Museum) about Shipwreck Treasures going on now from 15 August 2011 until 1 January 2012.
The exhibition is to educate us about the significance of maritime archaeology and to display collection of discoveries from shipwrecks which were discovered throughout Malaysia waters.
The Malaysian waters was one of the most important trade routes in the world, traversed by merchants from China, Siam, India, Persia, Arabia and the Malay Archipelago since the start of the century and perhaps even earlier. The Southeast Asian waters not only brought together civilisations but became the setting of many tragic shipwrecks.
Effort to find these wrecks has been carried out since 1980 by several parties, each with their own agenda. Systematic work based on techniques of maritime archaeology only started in 1995 when the museum salvaged the Dutch warship, Nassau, at Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan.
Other wrecks that has been discovered in Malaysian waters include The Diana, The Wanli, The Desaru, Royal Nanhai and few others. The Diana has been discovered near Petronas oilrig in the straits of Malacca, The Desaru at the coast of Desaru Johor, The Wanli at the coast of Dungun, Terengganu and Royal Nanhai was found 40 nautical miles east of Kuantan in Peninsular Malaysia.
Here are some pictures from the exhibition:
Anyway to find out more, do visit the exhibition.
poster taken from JMM website: www.jmm.gov.my
- ABOUT ME, Family travel, FT of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, mixed media, Putrajaya, TRAVEL/HOLIDAYS
On Saturday morning…
…we went to Titiwangsa Lake after having breakfast at Restoran Haslam.
Wanted to make this a routine but last Saturday, we couldn’t make it. Went there a week before last week. Previously, it was not that full when we reached Titiwangsa Lake around 9am. But today, it was so full! I get to ask a boy with a fishing rod in his hand, “Dik, ada acara apa ni? Pertandingan memancing ke?” The boy replied, “haah, kak.” Ok there was a fishing competition this morning, no wonder. We made few rounds and luckily we found a spot.
And the three of us, spent time doing things we love; Yassin with his cycling, me sketching, husband taking videos.
Didn’t bring my camera as my bag was full..just relying on my phone camera.
a frame from my husband’s camcorder
Here are some of the sketches I got to draw on lovely Saturday morning:
Epiphytic ferns on palm tree
waterlilies
Later on, we went to another lake! hehe…Putrajaya Lake Garden. I love it there, we got the field in front of the Millennium Monument all to ourselves. There’s no other family except some guards and landscape workers.
Ceritera garden umbrella
Peanuts…
[Kacang tak pernah lupakan kulit, kita je yang makan kacang dan buang kulitnya. ~ Emila]