jalanjalan: Cat Museum, Sarawak

Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak, is located on the banks of the Sarawak river. Its name in the Malay language actually means “cat”. While the origins of the name of the city are unclear; the city has now embraced its name, and has come to be known as the “Cat City”.

If you drive around Kuching, you will notice various cat statues symbolising the name of the city. And of course, if you claim to be a cat city, well you need a Cat Museum!

Entrance to the Cat Museum

The origins of the museum actually stemmed from a cat exhibition that was held in the National Museum of Kuala Lumpur in 1987 featuring the private collection of Dato’ Shahrum Yub, the Curator of the Museum and which was formally opened by the Chief Minister of Sarawak Pehin Sri Haji Taib bin Mahmud.

Pehin Sri’s wish was for Kuching to have its own Cat Museum; this dream was realised when the Sarawak Government bought over Dato’ Shahrum’s personal collection of 2,500 cat artifacts made up of various materials such as glass, marble, crystal, copper, porcelain and ceramics; as well as other memorabilia such as sketches, art and paintings.

The collection was handed over to the care of the Sarawak Museum department in time for the commemoration of Kuching as a city in 1988. The collection was first exhibited in Dewan Tun Abdul Razak on 1 August 1988.

Upon the completion of the new Kuching North City Hall building on Bukit Siol, the collection was handed over to City Hall and the Cat Museum was relocated to the ground floor of the City Hall building.

Kuching North City Hall Building.

Bukit Siol is located in Petra Jaya, across the Sarawak river from the original settlement of Kuching. A 60m high hill, the location of city hall on top of the peak gives a commanding view of the surrounding city. It is worth to spend some time to admire the views here in addition to visiting the Cat Museum.

Views from Bukit Siol.

Upon entering the ground floor lobby of the building, you will notice a huge cat sculpture, the mouth of which acts as the gateway into the Cat Museum. The Cat Museum consists of four galleries of a total of 1,035 square metres and there are now more than 4,000 artifacts in the collection. You will have to pay a fee of RM3 for each camera you bring in, and RM5 for a video recorder.