Malaysia's First Owl Museum Eyes 20,000 Festive Crowd

GEORGE TOWN, July 29 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's first Owl Museum, dedicated to introducing the fascinating world of owls and their cultural relations to humans, expects to draw more than 20,000 visitors during the current festive period and coming school holidays.

The art and craft museum, located on a 2,500 sq ft area at Penang's main tourist attraction of Penang Hill, has a unique owl collection of over 2,500 exhibits. Its owner, Footprint Tourism Penang Sdn Bhd director Adrian Soh, said the idea of establishing an owl museum came in 2010 from his friend who was collecting almost anything about owls.

He said many other countries, such as South Korea, Cyprus and South Africa, had owl museums and it was time that Malaysia had its own owl museum to attract more tourists. "Our fascination is recorded and reflected in the huge number of artistic representations of owls in the form of carvings, sculptures, paintings and tapestries throughout history at the museum," he told Bernama.

He said the museum opened its doors to the public on June 7, 2012, and that among the interesting exhibits is a blue ceramic owl with gold and platinum accents from Uruguay. The museum features a collection of over 2,000 rare and unique art and craft artifacts obtained from more than 20 countries.

Soh said the owls on display were made from all kinds of material such as stone, metal, glass, wood, clay, plastic, buffalo horn, seashells, beans, porcelain, plant fibres, crystal, earthenware and paper and recycled material. "Visitors can also purchase souvenirs, including fashion accessories, fridge magnets and home decorative items at special prices," he said.

The museum opens from 9 am to 6 pm daily. The admission fee is RM10 for adults and free for children under 12. Senior citizens aged 60 and above and students are entitled to a 50 per cent discount.
-bernama.
http://theowlmuseum.com/