The Paddy Museum, located at the foot of Gunung Keriang, lies some eight kilometres from Alor Star, the capital of Kedah. It is the first paddy museum in Malaysia, and the fourth to be opened in the world after Japan, Germany and the Philippines.
The unique architecture of the Paddy Museum represents bushels of harvested rice stalks. Rice motifs are repeated throughout the building, on staircase banisters, the museum gates and the fence surrounding it. The museum which consists of a main building with six surrounding annexes is built on 12,000 square metres of land. The threestorey building sits on a vast piece of paddy field fringed with traditional Malay homes.
The museum showcases the paddy cultivation process in Malaysia and displays all kinds of tools and equipment which have been used in the trade over the years. Through beautiful murals, the art work of 60 artists from North Korea, the history of paddy cultivation in Malaysia is revealed. The largest and most impressive mural in the museum is a 360degree
realistic painting of the paddy fields and Gunung Keriang landscape. Located at the revolving gallery on the third floor of the museum the painting measures 8 metres in height and 103 metres in length.
The Paddy Museum is an important tourist attraction in Kedah as the state is known as the Rice Bowl state of Malaysia due to its important economic contribution to the country. It honours the history, culture and significance of paddy farming in Kedah and is dedicated to the hardworking and simple paddy farmers, whose blood, sweat and toil have contributed to the objective of achieving self sufficiency in the rice industry.
The Paddy Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It closes for Friday prayer from 12.30 to 2.30 p.m. on Fridays. Admission fees are RM3 for adults and RM1 for children while school groups are charged RM1 per person. Each camera brought in will be charged a RM2 fee.
For more information, please contact the Paddy Museum at +604 735
1315. Alternatively, you may also contact Lembaga Muzium Negeri Kedah
(Kedah Museum Board) at tel: +604 733 1162; fax: +604 730 5100; or email:
muziumkd@tm.net.my
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