Brunei Museum, National museum in Kampong Kota Batu, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.
The Brunei Museum is the national museum of Brunei, located in the Kampong Kota Batu area east of Bandar Seri Begawan's city center, along the Brunei River. The building holds several exhibition rooms covering Islamic art, natural history, and objects that document the country's past and its place in the region.
The museum opened in 1965, at a time when Brunei was shaping its national identity and beginning to document its history in a formal way. Over the following decades the collection grew and the building was expanded to house new acquisitions.
The museum's name in Malay is Muzium Brunei, written in Jawi script as موزيوم بروني. Much of the collection comes from the personal holdings of the Sultan of Brunei, including silver and gold coins from across the Islamic world. A gallery titled The Spirit of Budo displays replicas of Japanese armour and weapons from the 8th to 14th centuries.
The Brunei Museum has been closed since 28 January 2014 for structural repairs, and its reopening, once planned for 2020, remains postponed. It stands on Jalan Kota Batu, about 4.5 km from the capital's centre, within a complex that also holds the Malay Technology Museum and the Maritime Museum. Some exhibits were moved to the Belait District Museum, Tasek Merimbun Heritage Park and other sites during the closure.
Among the objects on display are cannons with barrels shaped like dragons, which were once used as symbols of the sultan's authority. This type of weapon was common across Southeast Asia and shows how closely art and power were linked in the region's courts.
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