The Terengganu State Museum, Kuala Terengganu

The Terengganu State Museum will astound anyone on first sight.. and it definitely astounded me and made me catch my breath.. I was actually thinking that I was at the grounds of some palace or grand hotel somewhere…

The Terengganu State Museum in Bukit Losong is truly an impressive architectural feature, designed and created based on the ancient Terengganu Palace with its Terengganu’s distinctive peleleh/sloping roof, the many design elements derived from the past make this building just so very attractive ….

…and you could even imagine yourself in Jaipur or some exotic Indian or Arabic country.. It is the largest museum in Malaysia, and perhaps even in South East Asia built on /occupying 27 hectares of land..

The Terengganu State Museum is about 75,000 sq feet, and spread over four interconnected buildings and you can also find old maritime vessels and old palace buildings outside the buildings, as well as the rumah tele – one of which King Mongkut of Thailand had once stayed on his visit to the State in 1908 as well as various reconstructed old homes depicting traditional Malay architecture.

The original Terengganu inscription stone or ‘Batu Bersurat’ can be found on displayed here. Discovered back in 1902 by Syed Hussein Ghulam Al Bukhari at Kampung Buloh, Hulu Terengganu, the ‘Batu Bersurat’, is considered the earliest evidence of that Islam was introduced to the Peninsula Malaysia , predating even the founding of the the Malacca Sultanate.

The Main Museum building is built on 16 concrete stilts with galleries showcasing textiles and weaving techniques, traditional weapons, crafts, historical, royal regalias, nature, petroleum development, Islamic arts, new generation and contemporary arts.

The gardens are just gorgeous and I would have really loved to be able to stroll at leisure if I could but with the limited time we had, I could only take some pictured and visit a small part of the museum and surroundings…