Museums are institutions that store and exhibit objects of cultural, scientific or artistic value. When it comes to archaeology in Southeast Asia, museums are often national or state-owned institutions that hold the archaeological collections of the country. However, due to the effects of colonialism and also looting, many archaeological treasures from the region are sometimes held outside of the country.
To cite this page: Tan, Noel Hidalgo (2021, Updated 30 October 2022) Museums. Southeast Asian Archaeology. Available at: https://www.southeastasianarchaeology.com/museums/
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Overview
A museum is typically a building that seeks to collect, preserve, study, and exhibit artworks and natural objects as specimens. The term also denotes the institution within which the collection is housed. Museums typically function as research centres for their collections on concepts such as evolution and natural selection.
Within the museums in Southeast Asia, particularly in the national museums, one can find archaeological and historical artefacts, artworks, and natural objects. This page deals specifically with museums holding archaeological collections from Southeast Asia. Within the region, many of these museums are governmental organizations such as national or state museums, although few private museums exist. In some cases museums were created by public organizations but operate independently as private entities. There are also many non-profit educational and research institutions with archaeological collections in the region.
It is important to note that many spectacular and even important archaeological artefacts are kept in museums outside of Southeast Asia. These pieces were often taken out of their home country due to colonisation, while some have been acquired in more recent times. In more recent years, countries like Cambodia have been asserting ownership over pieces found in museums overseas, sometimes with proof of looting, and have become successful in repatriating them.
At other times, museums have also been found complicit in acquiring artefacts with poor provenance records, which may often hide the fact that they have been stolen or looted. The Pandora Papers published in 2021 showed how looted art was sold using offshore accounts, making their way to museums around the world. There is an ongoing debate about what it means to decolonise museums, the lack of provenance in many of these pieces, the ethics of keeping and displaying potentially stolen items, and the repatriation of artefacts to their places of origin.
Museums in Southeast Asia also face other challenges, such as the lack of adequate funding, political turmoil, war, lack of space, and lack of protection from natural disasters. However, the region is also rich in archaeological and historical artefacts that are an integral part of its history. Museums in this region can also face issues of having to justify the need to collect and display antiquities within their nationally-driven agendas. Many museums in Southeast Asia were created because a country’s leaders wanted to showcase their country’s history or their own legacy on a national scale. Visitorship is also another challenge facing museums, as museums combat the stereotype of being boring and irrelevant, or also where funding is also tied to the number of visitors. Many museums are responding to the changing tastes of visitors by curating more frequent exhibitions, or using technology to augment the visitor experience.
In 2022, the International Council of Museums approved a new definition of museum: “A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, offering varied experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection and knowledge sharing.”
Recommended Books
These are books relevant to the Southeast Asian museums and museology, with a focus on archaeology. Some of these links are affiliate links and I may receive a commission if you click on them and make a purchase. For other sources of reliable academic information, you should also check out the books page for latest releases and the occassional free book, as well as the journals page for the latest scientific research.
Last update on 2023-01-26 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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Museum News Archive
News reports and information about museums and museums studies related to Southeast Asian and cultural heritage. The news reports indexed below usually link to external sites that were active at the time of posting; sometimes websites may be temporarily down or may have reorganised their underlying architecture or have even closed down – in these cases the links may not be available. Most of the news articles archived are in English, although when I am made aware of stories in this and other languages I try to index them.
Map
Links to Museum Websites
These are links to external sites and unless stated, I have no connection with the organisations or entities in these links or control over their content. They are sorted alphabetically, but you should also explore the Resources page which have links sorted by themes. If you have a link to suggest, please get in touch!
- Angkor National Museum – Opened in 2007, the Angkor National Museum is located in Siem Reap and promises to show visitors the splendours of the ancient Angkor civilisation.
- Asian Art Museum – Online collection of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
- Asian Civilisations Museum – The museum’s collection features archaeological artefacts from Southeast Asia, China and India.
- Ayala Museum – Private museum in Manila with archaeological collections.
- Ban Kao National Museum – Museum in Kanchanaburi dedicated to the Neolithic Ban Kao culture
- Bangkok National Museum – Official website of the Bangkok National Museum, which houses an archaeological and art history collection.
- Borneo Cultures Museum – The New Sarawak Museum in Kuching showcases the rich cultures of Borneo.
- Bowers Museum – Art museum located in Santa Ana, California.
- Bujang Valley Archaeological Museum – Museum in Kedah housing antiquities from the Bujang Vally archaeological sites.
- Chiang Mai National Museum
- Chiang Saen National Museum
- Chao Sam Phraya National Museum – National museum of Thailand in Ayutthaya.
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Da Nang Museum of Cham Sculpture – A museum dedicated to the sculpture of the ancient Cham, centred in South Vietnam. Website is in Vietnamese and English.
- Denver Art Museum
- Freer|Sackler Gallery Southeast Asia Collections – The Freer|Sackler is the Smithsonian’s museums of Asian art. The Southeast Asia web resource features an organized online collection, listings of exhibitions, events, conservation activities, and current research, as well as further resources and bibliography. The centerpiece is a robust interactive map of sacred sites in Southeast Asia, amply illustrated with site photos.
- Guangdong Maritime Silk Road Museum
- Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia – Museum dedicated to the Islamic art of Southeast Asia.
- Jabatan Muzium Malaysia (Department of Museums, Malaysia) – The official government website for the Department of Museums, Malaysia.
- Perak Museum – Disntiguished as the first museum in Malaysia, houses arcaeological, ethnological and natural history collections.
- Muzium Kota Johor Lama – Museum of the old city of Johor
- Perak Museum – Disntiguished as the first museum in Malaysia, houses arcaeological, ethnological and natural history collections.
- Jabatan Muzium-Muzium, Brunei Darussalam – The Brunei Museums Department is responsible for protecting and preserving national heritage.
- Kelantan State Museum
- Khon Kaen National Museum
- King Narai National Museum
- Lam Dong Museum
- Museum Geologi (Bandung) – Geological museum with exhibits of fossils including Homo erectus
- Museum Mpu Purwa – Museum in Malang focusing on the antiquities of Java.
- Museum of Archaeology and Enthropolgy (Cambridge) – The University of Cambridge’s museum with archaeological collectiosn from around the world, including Southeast Asia.
- Museum Maritim Indonesia
- Museum Nasional Indonesia – The Indonesian National Museum.
- Museum Pusaka Nias – Or the Museum of Nias Heritage in Nias Island, Sumatra. The blogsite is mainly in Bahasa Indonesia.
- National Museum of Cambodia – Official page.
- National Museum of the Philippines – Official page.
- Batanes Area Museum
- Cagayan Valley Regional Museum
- Ilocos Regional Museum Complex
- Cordillera Rice Terraces Regional Museum
- Kabayan Burial Caves Site Museum
- Angono Binangonan Petroglyphs
- Marinduque-Romblon Area Museum
- Tabon Caves Site Museum
- Bicol Regional Museum
- Western Visayas Regional Museum
- Bohol Area Museum
- Eastern-Northern Mindanao Regional Museum
- Sulu Archipelago Area Museum
- National Museum of Singapore – Collection showcases the history of Singapore from the 14th century to modern times.
- NUS Museum – Featuring an Archaeology Library of finds from digs across Singapore.
- National Palace Museum (Taiwan)
- Pahang State Museum
- Penn Museum
- Phra Pathom Chedi Museum
- Queen Sirikit Textile Museum
- Royal Barges National Museum – Museum in Bangkok
- Sabah State Museum
- Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum – The museum is located in the Bangkok University. Website in Thai, but there are links to the English-language newsletter which is regularly published.
- Southeast Asian collections in the Smithsonian – The Smithsonian has recently put their collections online in Open Access. The link goes specifically to Southeast Asian material.
- Tropenmuseum – Ethnographic museum in Amsterdam
- Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Archives – Digital archive of the documents found in S-21 (now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum) in Cambodia.
- USC Pacific Asia Museum
- Vietnam National Museum of History (Hanoi) – The Vietnam National Museum of History is a public service unit under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which is at the forefront of the system of Vietnam’s history-society museums.
- Vietnam National Museum of History (Ho Chi Minh City) – The southern branch of the Vietnam National Museum of History in Ho Chi Minh City.
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Virtual Museum – Education portal by the Fine Arts Department of Thailand.
- Yale University Indo-Pacific Gallery – The Gallery’s Indo-Pacific art collection represents the art of maritime Southeast Asia and includes about 1,900 objects, with strengths in ethnographic sculpture, Javanese gold from the prehistoric to the late medieval period, and Indonesian textiles.
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