Shan State Cultural Museum

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The Shan State Cultural Museum, now known as Cultural Museum (Taunggyi), is a museum located at Bogyoke Aung San Road and Eintawshay Road, in Taunggyi, Shan State, Myanmar (Burma). This museum is one of the cultural museums under the Department of Archaeology and National Museum, Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. It was established in 1974. It displays divans, swords, fans, chairs used by Sawbwa (Shan Chief of former times), old paintings, coins and traditional costumes of the Shan races. [1]

Museum institution that holds artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, historical, or other importance

A museum is an institution that cares for (conserves) a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these items available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. The largest museums are located in major cities throughout the world, while thousands of local museums exist in smaller cities, towns and rural areas. Museums have varying aims, ranging from serving researchers and specialists to serving the general public. The goal of serving researchers is increasingly shifting to serving the general public.

Taunggyi City in Shan State, Myanmar

Taunggyi is the capital and largest city of Shan State, Myanmar (Burma) and lies on the Thazi-Kyaingtong road at an elevation of 4,712 feet, just north of Shwenyaung and Inle Lake within the Myelat region. Taunggyi is the fifth largest city of Myanmar, and has an estimated population of 380,665 as of 2014.The city is famous for its hot air balloon festival held annually on the full moon day of Tazaungmon.

Shan State State in East central, Myanmar

Shan State is a state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China to the north, Laos to the east, and Thailand to the south, and five administrative divisions of Burma in the west. Largest of the 14 administrative divisions by land area, Shan State covers 155,800 km², almost a quarter of the total area of Burma. The state gets its name from the Shan people, one of several ethnic groups that inhabit the area. Shan State is largely rural, with only three cities of significant size: Lashio, Kengtung, and the capital, Taunggyi. Taunggyi is 150.7 km north east of the nation's capital Naypyitaw.

Contents

History

At first, the institution was organized as the Shan state Cultural Department at the Shan state office and exhibited some cultural objects on 27 June 1956. According to the new administration system of 1974, it was transferred to the Cultural Institute Department and it was inaugurated as the Cultural Museum at the present building on May 11, 1974. So the 60 years old objects are displayed in the over forty years old museum.

Displays

In the Cultural Museum (Taunggyi), 808 display objects are exhibited in the four exhibition rooms and a total of 5998 display objects are in the museum's collection.

It is two storied brick building and the display area is about 11200 square feet. There are four exhibition rooms; exhibition room (1), exhibition room (2), exhibition room (3) and exhibition room (4). Altogether 880 artifacts are being showcased in the exhibition rooms.

Ground floor

In the reception hall, the map of Shan State (10’x10’) is displayed. The Shan State is the largest state existed in the east of Myanmar and it is divided into three parts: east, south and north.

Exhibition room (1) and exhibition room (2) are in the ground floor. In the exhibition room (1), the traditional costumes and the traditional instruments of Shan nationalities are displayed. In Shan State, over 30 Shan nationalities are still living and they have their own different cultures. The Shan nationalities have their intangible cultural heritage such as the traditional arts and crafts. Those arts and crafts such as weaving, lacquer wares, glazed wares and traditional Shan paper are displayed in association with explanatory texts in the exhibition room (2).

First floor

Exhibition room (3) and exhibition room (4) are on the first floor. In the exhibition room (3), it is shown about the Pinlon Agreement, the most important event not only in Shan State but also in the whole Myanmar country. On 12 February 1947, the Pinlon agreement leading by General Aung San had been signed by the leaders of the Nationalities of Myanmar in Pinlon, Shan State due to reveal the desire of all Myanmar nationalities to get the Independence altogether from British. The huge oil painting (5’x8’) illustrated the signing of Pinlon agreement, the copy of Agreement and the photos of the leaders of Nationalities who signed in the agreement, attached with their biography are displayed. Moreover, the colorful paintings illustrated the traditional cultures of nationalities are also displayed.

Panglong Agreement

The Panglong Agreement was reached in Panglong, Southern Shan State, between the Burmese government under Aung San and the Shan, Kachin, and Chin peoples on 12 February 1947. Aung Zan Wai, Pe Khin, Bo Hmu Aung, Sir Maung Gyi, Dr. Sein Mya Maung, Myoma U Than Kywe were among the negotiators of the historical Panglong Conference negotiated with Bamar leader General Aung San and other ethnic leaders in 1947. The agreement accepted "Full autonomy in internal administration for the Frontier Areas" in principle and envisioned the creation of a Kachin State by the Constituent Assembly. It continued the financial relations established between the Shan states and the Burmese federal government, and envisioned similar arrangements for the Kachin Hills and the Chin Hills.

Exhibition room (4) showcased about the literature of Shan nationality such as palm leaves manuscripts and paper parchments. The photos of the Shan poets are also displayed together with their biography. Besides, it is also displayed to show that the Shan nationalities believe in Buddhism by showcasing the Buddha images made of bronze, wooden, lacquer and clay. And the traditional utensils used in the monasteries for offering the alms food are exhibited. It can reflect that the Shan nationalities deeply believe in the Buddhism. Moreover, the ancient artifacts that can identify the successive periods flourished in the Shan state are exhibited.

Buddhism World religion, founded by the Buddha

Buddhism is the world's fourth-largest religion with over 520 million followers, or over 7% of the global population, known as Buddhists. Buddhism encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on original teachings attributed to the Buddha and resulting interpreted philosophies. Buddhism originated in ancient India as a Sramana tradition sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, spreading through much of Asia. Two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars: Theravada and Mahayana.

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References

  1. ↑ Ministry of Culture Archived 2008-12-09 at the Wayback Machine .

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