Royal Museum (Old National Palace)

About this place

This is the one place in Malaysia where you can walk into a real royal palace. The building was the National Palace and home of Malaysia's kings from 1957 to 2011; when the king moved to the new palace, the old one became a museum, opened to the public in 2013. The house itself was built in 1928 as the mansion of a wealthy Chinese merchant and later enlarged by the state. Inside you walk through the throne room where kings were installed, the state reception rooms, and the royal bedrooms and offices, with furniture and state gifts left as their occupants had them. It is less grand than a visitor used to Gulf or European palaces might expect, and that is exactly its charm: a palace the size of a large family home, where a family actually lived. Foreign adults pay RM 10 and children RM 5, with under-fives free. It opens every day and closes only on the first two days of the two Eids. Photography is restricted in some rooms. It sits on a hill south of the centre, easiest reached by taxi; allow an hour. It is the natural complement to the outside gate of the new palace, which cannot be entered.