The The Music Museum (GPS: 3.14705, 101.69358) or Muzium Muzik, formerly the National History Museum, is housed in the first bank to open a branch in Kuala Lumpur. The building was previously the National History Museum, and was originally the The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China. The bank opened in Kuala Lumpur in 1888. It moved to its new premises on this site in 1891. The site was chosen for security considerations: it is close to the police headquarters on Bluff Road (now Jalan Bukit Aman). The original building had to be replaced but the present three-storey structure in 1909, as it proved inadequate.
I photograph the museum as part of a walking tour I did to document the various heritage buildings around Dataran Merdeka. The The Music Museum was designed to blend in with the other Mughal style (also written Mogul, but often incorrectly referred as Moorish) buildings in the surrounding area. Initially, there was a single-storey wing to the building which extended onto Jalan Raja. This had to be demolished when Jalan Raja was widened. In its place, arches were placed there to embellish the blank wall. There were also verandahs that are today enclosed with windows. The corner domes where constructed of belian, a hardwood from East Malaysia.
Music Museum, Kuala Lumpur (7 July, 2016)
Side view of the Music Museum building, Kuala Lumpur. (8 February, 2006)
Music Museum building, with the Dataran Merdeka Flagpole in the background. (8 February, 2006)
The Music Museum building, when it still housed the National History Museum (9 October, 2004)
The great flood of 1926 caused the bank's vaults to be inundated. Business continued as usual upstairs in the living quarters, while staff had to be ferried by sampan. Millions of dolloars of watersoaked bank notes were laid out on the Padang in front to dry and guarded by the police.
The museum building was renovated in 1996 and turned into the National History Museum to showcase Malaysia's historic development, from Lembah Bujang artefacts to Malacca, the Japanese occupation and more. It was later turned into the Music Museum.
Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.
While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.
Music Museum, Kuala Lumpur (8 August, 2017)
Music Museum, Kuala Lumpur (7 July, 2016)
Side view of the Music Museum building, Kuala Lumpur. (8 February, 2006)
Music Museum building, with the Dataran Merdeka Flagpole in the background. (8 February, 2006)
The Music Museum building, when it still housed the National History Museum (9 October, 2004)
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