Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Mandalay Royal Palace and assorted clothes and palanquins, although the randomness of the
exhibits and lack of signage means the overall effect is rather like browsing a superior handi-
crafts shop.
First floor
Top of the bill on the first floor is the magnificent, solid-gold
RoyalRegalia
, comprising the
royal helmet, fan, sash and sandals plus assorted betel containers, caskets, goblets, urns and
an entertaining, vaguely Dalí-esque crayfish-shaped pitcher.
The grindingly dull
Natural History
gallery has the inevitable dishes of prehistoric bones
and stone-age tools - a clump of fossilized poo is about as exciting as it gets - while the
Bronze Age Axes and Spearheads
gallery is as yawn-worthy as you'd suspect. Fraction-
ally more absorbing is the
Burial Urns and Stone Carvings
gallery, with exhibits from
Sri Ksetra (
Thayekhittaya
)
,
Hanlin
and Beikthano, featuring some delicate metalwork and
statuettes.
Second floor
The second floor is the most enjoyable in the museum, displaying a rich selection of distinct-
ively Burmese craftsmanship at its extravagant best. The
TraditionalFolkArt
gallery holds
awiderangeofcrafts,frombeautifulglassmosaicworkandspectacularlacquerwarethrough
to fun and colourful toys and dolls, animal figurines, and wooden carts, plus a pumpkin-
shaped alms bowl and a pair of ingenious chairs with antler horns for legs.
Equally fine is the
Performing Arts Gallery
- although it's frustrating that you can't hear
what any of the musical instruments on display actually sound like. These include several
quaint
mi-gyaung
,acrocodile-shaped, three-stringzither(thestringsarepluckedwithaplec-
trum), enormous Shan pot drums and a spectacular glass-mosaic xylophone in the shape of
the
pancharupa
, one of Myanmar's many mythical beasts, made from a combination of five
otheranimals.Therearealsotwocompletedrumensemblescomprisinggongs,bambooclap-
per, oboe, “timing bell”, a “drum circle” (a kind of traditional Burmese drum kit, with the
performer sitting inside a ring of drums), and a big drum hung from a
pancharupa
stand.
Other exhibits include some fabulous marionettes and assorted masks worn by actors during
performances of the Yama Zatdaw, the Burmese version of the Ramayana.
Third floor
The third floor is the museum's least interesting, and easily skipped. Highlight of the
Art
Gallery
is the work of U Ba Nyan (1897-1945), with a mix of dark and rather sombre por-
traits in a kind of generic post-impressionist style alongside cheerier watercolours and pencil
sketches of natural scenes. An endless succession of watercolours and oil paintings by other
national artists ensues, with the emphasis on chintzy landscapes and chocolate-box scenes of
Burmese rural life.
