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The Brunei Museum will host a four-month exhibition featuring 40 years of operational excellence by Brunei LNG Sdn Bhd as part of its continuing efforts to attract more visitors to the national museum.

Mariani Hj Abu Bakar, public relations officer for the Museums Department, told The Brunei Times that the exhibition will be open to the public by the end of Ramadhan and will run until the end of the year.

In an email interview, the Museums official said the department actively encourages individuals or organisations to hold temporary exhibitions at the museum, explaining it is one of their strategies to entice more visitors to the 45-year-old landmark.

Established in 1965, the Brunei Museum contains six galleries displaying the archaeology, ethnology, art and natural history of the country.

In 2008, the museum surpassed 70,000 visitors, but suffered a period of decline last year due to the outbreak of the H1N1 virus.

"However, since then, the number of visitors began to increase again by 2010," she said. "The increase in the number of visitors are contributed mainly by the various activities, programmes and new exhibitions."

In the past year, the Brunei Museum has stepped up its efforts to bring in more visitors, especially youth, by conducting school-holiday programmes that include guided tours, traditional games like congkak, pasang and kite-making and an Amazing Race-style expedition.

"Locals who come to visit are sometimes made up of family members, especially those with kids who like to visit the natural history gallery."

Mariani said that travel agents also play an active role in getting tourists to visit the museum by including it as part of their travel itinerary.

"Besides the flight packages, there are also foreign visitors from cruise ships and also via land from our neighbouring countries," she commented.

The most significant additions to the museum this year has been the opening of the Independence Gallery which chronicles Brunei's march towards independence and its achievements thereafter.

Mariani said one of the challenges facing the Brunei Museum is capturing a wider audience, particularly among locals, to keep them coming back to appreciate the national treasures.

She added that making a museum visit a significant cultural activity that can be enjoyed by the whole family is a challenge the Museums Department continues to battle.

"Making exhibitions relevant and providing information to visitors, especially our local visitors,"she said, is the key to success for Bruneian museums.

The Museums official added that there are many undiscovered treasures in local museums, that are rarely explored by the public.

"The Malay Technology Museum has an interactive corner where visitors are able to try out various traditional games. The Tasek Merimbun Heritage Park has an exhibition that will capture young children's attention with the various animals on display and the adults will enjoy the scenery and the architectural design of the building too."

In contrast, Bubungan Dua Belas, the former official residence of the British Residents and High Commissioners until Brunei's independence in 1984, depicts a bygone era — an architectural testament to Brunei's colonial past.

Inside the oldest building in the nation, a pictorial exhibition chronicles the historical relationship between Brunei and the United Kingdom dating back to the nineteenth century.

One of the museum's attendants, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that while Bubungan Dua Belas is one of the less visited museums in Brunei, it is still frequented by students on educational visits and tourists on group tours.

"The recent renovations brought the building back to its former glory, it is beautifully restored thanks to the joint efforts from the Brunei and UK governments," he said.

"I think many people don't take the time to come visit here because it's not as lively as other attractions and it only contains pictorial exhibits."

"It is a shame we don't have the original furniture or artefacts from the house on display, they have been lost with time, because they would add something more to this museum," he added.

"But even in its present state, Bubungan Dua Belas is still a beautiful building which should be appreciated and treasured by the local community."

The Brunei Times