The Perak State Museum is a museum located in Taiping, Perak, Malaysia. It is the oldest museum in Malaysia and highlights the history of the state.
Perak Museum, Taiping on the map.
GPS coordinates N 4°51'38'', E 100°44'42''
This is not to be confused with The Perak Museum in Ipoh erected in 1926 by a rich and successful tin miner called Foo Choong Kit. The Perak Museum in Taiping is the first and oldest museum in Malaysia. It owes its establishment to the fund-raising efforts of Sir Hugh Low, third British Resident of Perak and Sir Frank Swettenham who was later the Governor of the Straits Settlements. The Perak Museum at Taiping was founded by Sir Hugh Low, the British Resident of Perak, in 1883. The museum was initially concerned with natural history particularly ethnography, zoology and geology, key areas of interest of its founder Sir Hugh, and botany an interest share by both Sir Hugh and its first curator Leonard Wray Jr., who was curator from 1883 to 1903. While construction of the museum began with renovations to the former government offices in 1883 the main building was only completed in 1886 due to lack of funds. In 1889 extensions to the front and back were added and in 1900 a two-storey extension.[1][2][3][4]