Penang State Museum

When in George Town, capital of Penang, you can learn about the island’s culture and lifestyle from this State Museum. The museum is located inside a heritage building, which was once a Penang Free School, and it displays life-size artefacts from the Chinese Baba and Nyonya, the Indian and the Malay communities. Learn about the practice of spice trade and culture of coffee consumption. Complete living rooms and bedrooms are decked up to give you an image of how people lived in an era gone by. Collections also include picture postcards and few paintings depicting the history and artefacts of different transportation modes used in the city.
Learn about the practice of using bound-feet shoes. The Chinese considered small feet-size as a sign of feminine beauty and sensuousness, and often referred to such women as ‘lotus feet’. The practice of shaping the feet started when a girl attained the age of five or six, when mothers or grandmothers would bend the toes of the child’s feet and tie them up in a bandage. The young girls would be required to keep the bandages on and wear wooden shoes to keep the feet from growing in size. The State Museum depicts this peculiar practice by displaying a pair of bound-feet shoes. Interestingly, the museum compares this tradition to modern-day usage of high stiletto heels emanating from the western world.

Tips: The museum on Farquhar Street remains closed on Fridays and public holidays.