Brunei Darussalam Maritime Museum, Maritime museum in Kota Batu, Brunei

The Brunei Darussalam Maritime Museum in Kota Batu comprises three galleries: two permanent and one for temporary exhibitions. The first, 'The Brunei Shipwreck', displays a selection of 13,500 artefacts recovered in 1997 from a wreck about 32 nautical miles off Brunei's coast, including 15th- and 16th-century foreign ceramics. The second, 'Kota Batu as a Trading Centre', features models of foreign trading ships and local cultural items from the 14th to 17th centuries.

The museum's foundation grew from the recovery of artifacts from a shipwreck dating to the 15th century, which revealed information about maritime trade activity of that era. The institution developed to make these maritime discoveries accessible to the public.

The galleries display ceramics and glass bracelets from a sunken merchant ship's cargo that highlight the region's economic role in past trade networks. These artifacts come from different Chinese regions and show the strong maritime connections that once existed across the sea.

The museum is located in the Kampong Kota Batu area and is easy to find; the ship-shaped building stands out clearly from the street. Visitors should check which galleries are open on their visit day, as not all sections are available every day.

The wreck was found by accident in 1997, when the Elf Petroleum Asia B V corporation was surveying Brunei's Champion oil field; it lay on the seabed at a depth of 62 metres, about 32 nautical miles offshore. Around 10,000 artefacts were scattered over roughly 100 square metres.