Asian
Civilizations Museum
Hello! The
Asian Civilizations Museum was an activity that I thoroughly enjoyed and would
definitely recommend if you were to visit this country. I luckily went on a
tour of this museum and had a great guide… hopefully I can remember everything
she taught/told me along the way and not get things mixed up. Heads up I went
to 3 museums within a week, so I might be on overload haha.
As mentioned
I went to the Asian Civilizations Museum in Singapore. The focus of this museum
is on the artifacts and cultures of people originating from
Southeast/South/West Asia and China. What I am going to do is start placing my
photos with a synopsis of what that photo is… now to proceed.
This is a
statue of Buddha while he is mediating. It is said that while he was meditating
he had reached enlightenment, because while he was mediating a terrible storm
began and he didn’t even notice. A cobra noticed Buddha in the midst of
enlightenment and saw that he was not disturbed or even acknowledging the
storm. The cobra lifted him off the ground (see the coils under Buddha) and
created a covering over his head, so he would be safe and not disturbed during
his mediation.
This is an
imprint of Buddha’s foot.
This is a
picture of a Buddha on the right and what is possibly considered a monk on the
left. A lot of people (myself included until this tour) consider the figure on
the left to be Buddha…well, to be considered Buddha you have to reach the state
of enlightenment which causes the ‘bump’ to form on the head. If you look at
the figure to the right you will see the ‘bump’ on his (Buddha’s) head and the
first photo above reflects the same thing. Note: some people think that when
Buddha returns he will look like the figure/monk on the left… you can see where
the happy Buddha figure comes from. Cool Huh?!
In this
picture is one of the first productions of a verse from the Qur’an. This was
written on parchment (animal skin) and considered the most expensive material
available at that time… fun fact you read it from right to left.
This eloquent
box on top of a stand is where the Qur’an was held. Theses boxes would be
decorated elaborately, considering that the Qur’an is sacred… Note the stand is
to lift the box off the floor, so it does not make contact with the ground
below it.
This is an artist’s
artistic way of studying/writing a verse from the Qur’an.
There was a lot more
that I saw during this visit and would say that I completely recommend this
museum. As mentioned, I do know of a guide who would do a fabulous job guiding
you! And I can tell you I did not do the museum justice. Maybe I will have to
go again and do another entry down the road…Take care and thank you for reading!
