Living in the Past

From a Seoul museum as big as an airport to a Singapore trove of art, a Thai facility of curiosities, a Balinese gallery of traditional crafts, and a grand exhibit of Indian creativity, here are five of Asia’s best museums.

A cavernous, cutting-edge facility with such a variety of exhibits it would take weeks to cover, the National Museum of Korea is astonishing. I consider this to have no peer among Asia’s museums. It seems many other people agree with me. The National Museum of Korea was Asia’s most-visited museum in 2023, according to a report by the UK’s respected The Art Newspaper. With a remarkable 4.18 million visitors, it ranked behind only legendary museums The Louvre (Paris), Vatican Museums (Italy), British Museum (London), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) and Tate Modern (London).

This Seoul landmark is the 10^th largest museum on the planet, with about 295,000 sqm of floor space, divided into six main galleries. They focus on Asian Art, Donated Works, Prehistory and Ancient History, Medieval and Early Modern History, Calligraphy and Painting, and Sculpture and Crafts. These are complemented by a rotation of limited-time exhibits.

The National Museum of Singapore is a brilliant facility which unravels the story of this modern city-state via a vast collection of artefacts, artworks, and audio-visual displays. As much as I learned from that museum, I marginally preferred the splendid National Gallery Singapore.

Its grand architecture and interior design alone make it unmissable. The 64,000 sqm gallery is spread over two magnificent, colonial buildings—the former City Hall and Supreme Court. They house about 9,000 pieces of modern art, more than any other museum in Southeast Asia.

Its collection focuses specifically on this region, displaying many of its finest paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and installations. Including works by some of Singapore’s most revered artists, such as Liu Kang, Georgette Chen, and Chen Chong Swee.

To gain a deeper understanding of these exhibits, Remote Lands can arrange for a local expert to accompany you. National Gallery Singapore also caters terrifically well to families. Its Keppel Centre for Art Education has hands-on art classes for kids, a book nook for family reading sessions, and a children’s portrait gallery.

Located between the Grand Palace and famed backpacker hub Khaosan Road, the National Museum Bangkok is perfectly positioned to draw the attention of travellers. Those who venture inside may be surprised. I certainly was when I entered its first gallery to encounter demons, ghosts, penis necklaces, and bird dances.

This sprawling museum has exhibits covering archaeology, fine arts, and Thai history, as well as those aforementioned features of Thai mythology and superstition. I was fascinated to read about Thai rituals and amulets designed to repel evil spirits. One of the latter was called a Khun Pet, a penis replica historically worn around the necks of boys to protect them from supernatural threats.

Also explained was Nora, one of Thailand’s most spectacular performance arts. It sees a troupe of human “birds” enter a trance as they construct a bridge between Earth and the spirit-infested otherworld. Decorated by thousands of beads, the winged performers sway as they invoke Buddhist demons before vocalists create an eerie backdrop for a 500-year-old dance that curses their rivals. Rooted in animism, this elaborate ceremony aims to become possessed by these spirits and then wield their might momentarily.

The Fort district of southern Mumbai is the epicentre of this city’s tourism scene. Visitors swarm its monumental Gateway of India, which looks out across the Arabian Sea before they head inland to its world-class art district. Called Khal Goda, this creative hub boasts the National Gallery of Modern Art, Jehangir Art Gallery, the Institute of Contemporary Indian Arts, and the granddaddy of them all, the CSMVS Museum.

It was opened in the early 1900s in a glorious building which, with its dome, pillars, and intricate stonework, displays the Indo-Saracenic architecture for which Mumbai is renowned. Widely considered to be India’s best museum, CSMVS has a gigantic collection of about 70,000 artefacts and artworks, which date from the Stone Age to the modern day. They are divided into art, archaeology, and natural history sections.

Designed to resemble a classical Indonesian palace, the Bali Museum was built in the early 1900s as a sprawling complex of traditional buildings, pavilions, gates, and courtyards. It is located alongside the beautiful Agung Jagatnatha Hindu temple in Denpasar, the capital of Bali.

Although its collection is significantly smaller than the other museums on this list, the Bali Museum compensates for that with some genuinely unique offerings. Among its most distinctive displays are puppets which depicted characters from Hindu mythology, ceremonial weapons with supernatural powers, and glimmering Balinese ceramics. They’re complemented by Balinese paintings, statues, textiles, and tools dating back to the Bronze Age.