Museums and Heritage in Kuala Lumpur
Part of the Kuala Lumpur travel guide — see every topic in All Kuala Lumpur Guides.
Kuala Lumpur's museums are better than its reputation, and one of them is world-class. The Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia holds the largest collection of Islamic art in South-East Asia and is regularly rated among the best museums in Asia. Around it, in the Lake Gardens area, sit the National Museum, the National Textile Museum and several smaller collections, all within a short walk of each other, which makes the western side of the city the obvious place to spend a hot afternoon.
Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia
Opened in 1998 beside the National Mosque, this holds over ten thousand artefacts across twelve galleries: Qur'ans and manuscripts, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, arms and armour, textiles, and a celebrated collection of architectural scale models covering the great mosques of the Islamic world. The building itself, with its inlaid domes and Iranian tilework, is part of the exhibit. It is calm, beautifully lit, has an excellent Middle Eastern restaurant and a good bookshop, and it is the single best museum visit in Malaysia.
The national collections
Muzium Negara, the National Museum, occupies a 1963 building in a modern Malay palace idiom with large mosaic murals on the facade, and covers Malaysian history from prehistory through the sultanates, colonial period and independence. The National Textile Museum, in a restored 1905 Moorish-revival railway building near Merdeka Square, covers songket, batik, pua kumbu and the region's weaving traditions, and is excellent and almost always empty. The Royal Malaysia Police Museum and the Bank Negara Museum are the surprising good ones.
Heritage buildings
The colonial quarter around Merdeka Square holds the Sultan Abdul Samad Building of 1897, the Royal Selangor Club of 1884, the old General Post Office and the extraordinary 1910 Kuala Lumpur railway station. Masjid Jamek, from 1909, sits on the river confluence where the city began. The National Mosque, Masjid Negara, completed in 1965, is a striking modernist structure with a folded blue roof and an eighteen-point star plan, open to non-Muslim visitors outside prayer times with robes provided.
Practicalities
The Lake Gardens cluster — Islamic Arts, National Museum, Textile Museum nearby, the mosques and the bird park — is best done as one half-day, and it is a short Grab ride or a walk from KL Sentral. Most museums open around ten and close between five and six; several close on one weekday, so check. Admission is generally 5–25 ringgit and free at some. Mosque visits require covered shoulders and knees, with robes lent at the door, and non-Muslims should avoid prayer times.
Museums and Heritage at a glance
| Best museum | Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia — largest such collection in SE Asia |
|---|---|
| Opened | 1998, beside the National Mosque |
| Most overlooked | National Textile Museum, in a 1905 railway building |
| National Museum | Muzium Negara, 1963, modern Malay palace idiom |
| Admission | Generally RM 5–25; some free |
| Cluster | Lake Gardens area — a short ride from KL Sentral |