My Crystal Museum

My Crystal Museum, Penang (26 May 2016)

My Crystal Museum (GPS: 5.414, 100.32545) is a private museum in George Town, Penang. Located along New Lane, it has simply the world's largest collection of Malaysian natural crystals, all under one roof. Founded by Mr Ong Siu Huat, the museum is housed in a two-storey building next to Sunway Hotel Georgetown. The museum display area spans 7,000 sqft on the first floor of the building. Items on display range in size from tiny pieces to a massive 400-kilogram specimen.

My Crystal Museum opened to the public on 30 April, 2016. I paid it a visit on 26 May, where I was welcome by Mr and Mrs Ong and was shown around their museum. If I thought I had known everything about crystals, this museum was to show me how little I knew.

Timothy Tye at My Crystal Museum (26 March 2016)

My visit to this museum taught me a lot about natural crystals. I learned, for example, that there are two types of crystals - crystal calcite and crystal quartz. Of these two, quartz are harder, and thus can be fashioned into semi-precious gemstones. Crystal calcite (or calcite crystals), in comparison, are softer and more brittle. They are calcium carbonate minerals that crystallize from watery solutions. While they are not suitable for the making of jewellery, they are often displayed in their natural state.

My Crystal Museum has some of the most flamboyant examples of calcite crystals. The "My" in the name of the museum represents "Malaysia", for this museum has the largest display of Malaysia's own natural crystals anywhere in the world. What is all the more astonishing is that, although natural calcite crystals can be found in most of the limestone caves all over the country, almost all the pieces at My Crystal Museum came from one source, which is, the caves of Gunung Keriang in Kedah, just north of Alor Setar.

Locals living at the foot of Gunung Keriang have long known of these crystals. Many work part time as crystal miners. They believe that crystals are alive. Indeed, many of the crystals continue the crystalization process, so that over time, one could detect growths in the crystal spikes. Crystalization can happen even on every day tools and objects. Items left behind in cave by miners may form a layer of crystals over time.

Crystalization of everyday objects, such as tools left in the cave by miners. (26 March 2016)

A beautiful example of Malaysia's own natural crystal, truly Mother Nature's work of art. (26 March 2016)

My Crystal Museum is the culmination of a life-long passion for natural crystals. That passion had its start around 1998, when Mr Ong acquired his first piece of calcite crystal. With that first piece, the interest was sown, and it slowly expanded into a regular "pilgrimage" to Gunung Keriang, to seek newly discovered pieces.

Taking a tour of My Crystal Museum is like entering a mammoth treasure trove of crystals. I went down one long passageway and then the next, and then the next one, and some more. I was amazed to learn that Gunung Keriang - which is really nothing more than a karst hillock - could yield such a disparate collection of crystals.

No two pieces of crystal are exactly the same. Many look like corals from under the sea, like the spikes of the sea urchins, others have transculent fins, like jellyfish or tissue paper, but are as hard as rock. Some look like durians, some like cempedak, some like sugar candy, some like soaring cathedrals, and some like beds of nails. The position of the crystals within the rocks are also fascinating. Many of them spike inward, so they look like the gaping jaws of dinosaurs or the Great White Shark.

Natural crystal looking like rock sugar emerging from the rocks. Incidentally, rock sugar is also a form of crystal, as is salt. (26 March 2016)

Natural crystal looking like coral. (26 March 2016)

Natural crystal looking like rock-hard tissue paper. (26 March 2016)

Natural crystal looking like cempedak. (26 March 2016)

Natural crystal looking like fireworks or explosions. (26 March 2016)

Looking like volcanic formations, these too are calcite crystals in My Crystal Museum. (26 March 2016)

Rock hard and razor sharp - the Ice Queen's Fur Coat? (26 March 2016)

Unlike stalactites and stalagmites, natural crystals do not usually appear in the open. If they were somehow exposed, dirt would mar their pristine beauty. They usually grow inside rocks, so the only way to see them is to break open the rocks. So how do we know that there are cystal formations inside? Mr Ong told me that the crystal miners would tap on rocks to hear whether the rocks are hollow. Experienced crystal miners would be able to determine whether those rocks contain calcite crystals.

My Crystal Museum is huge. I did not expect to find that the passages seem to go on and on. With every corner, there's something new to see. If I'm not mistaken, there are hundreds of pieces, maybe even a thousand or more.

Long passageways zigzags through the museum with an unending collection of displayed crystals. (26 March 2016)

What I am able to show you on this page is just a fraction of what you would see at the museum itself. It is a lot of fun, if you slow down and take your time to admire each piece. Imagine what they look like to you. Perhaps in your mind's eye, you see a dolphin, or the statue of Budai (the Laughing Buddha), or a coral reef.

Mrs Ong, who manages the museum, pointing out a crystal formation that looks like the head of a crocodile. (26 March 2016)

One of Mr Ong's favourite piece is a crystal formation that looks like a mountain peak embraced by floating clouds. It is so unusual. According to Mr Ong, the "mountain peak" is crystalized wood while the "floating clouds" are crystals formed of a different colour.

My Crystal Museum is on the map of New Lane

Visiting My Crystal Museum

My Crystal Museum is open daily from 9:30 am to 6:30 pm, including on public holidays. Admission fees are as follows:

Adults: RM30 (standard rate), RM20 (with MyKad)
Children/Students with ID: RM15 (standard rate), RM10 (with MyKid/Student ID)
Senior Citizens (Aged 60 and above): RM20 (standard rate), RM15 (with MyKad)

Address

My Crystal Museum
15, New Lane,
10400 George Town, Penang.
Phone: +60 4 226 5682, 04 226 5382
Email: mycrystalmuseum@gmail.com

List of Museums in Penang and Museums in Malaysia

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