ONE of Kuching’s major landmarks, the 126-year-old Sarawak Museum, will be closed for more than two years beginning next month for refurbishment costing RM38 million.

Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg, who announced the closure today, said the building was in need of major repairs as it had been ravaged by time and termites.

He said besides the building itself, conservation work on some of its centuries-old artefacts was also needed.

“The historic and gazetted museum building is in urgent need of conservation, rewiring and upgrading of its M&E (mechanical and electrical) services.

“The old air-conditioning units break down constantly and the roof is leaking in many spots,” he said.

Removal of the artefacts could take up to a year and the Museum Department said plans were already in place to move them to a temporary location for safekeeping.

The department said partial opening of the museum had been ruled out “due to the nature of the refurbishment work”.

It said all artefacts had to be removed before work on the building started and, as custodian for the museum collection and heritage of Sarawak, it could not leave the artefacts in the hands of building contractors.

Built in 1891 by the second Sarawak White Rajah Sir Charles Brooke on the recommendation of the world-renowned British naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace, the museum, with its more than 200,000 objects, has been cited as one of the most comprehensive archaeological, natural history and ethnographic collections in Borneo.

The Sarawak Gazette has likened its architecture to one in the “Queen Anne style”, but some historians believe it was likely that Brooke wanted the museum to look like a picture he had seen of the Adelaide Children’s Hospital.

Kuching has three other museums – the Chinese history museum at Main Bazaar, the Islamic Heritage Museum at Jalan P. Ramlee and the textile museum at Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg – and historical exhibitions at the Arts Museum and recently refurbished Fort Margherita.

Between 400,000 and 600,000 people visit the Sarawak Museum every year.

Abang Johari said while there would still be no entrance fee for the museum when it reopens in 2020, the government planned to follow worldwide trends by charging a nominal fee at some point.

“There are plans to charge an entrance fee. Other museums are getting richer but we are not.” – September 21, 2017.