This remarkable museum houses the region's most comprehensive collection of pan-Asian treasures. Recently expanded, its series of thematic galleries explore the history, cultures and religions of Southeast Asia, China, the Asian subcontinent and Islamic West Asia. Exquisite artefacts include glittering Sumatran and Javanese ceremonial jewellery, Thai tribal textiles, Chinese silk tapestries, and astronomical treatises from 14th-century Iran and 16th-century Egypt. Among the more macabre objects is a 17th- or 18th-century Tibetan ritual bone apron, made with human and animal bones.
The museum occupies the stately Empress Place Building. Designed by British architect John Frederick Adolphus McNair and built using Indian convict labour in 1865, it originally housed the colonial government offices. Note the elegant fusion of Palladian classicism and tropical touches, among them timber louvered shutters and a wide, shaded porch.
