Closed at the time of writing and scheduled to reopen in mid-2020 after extensive conservation work, the Sarawak Museum was established in 1891 by Charles Brooke as a place to exhibit indigenous handicrafts and wildlife specimens, many collected by naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace in the 1850s. A highlight of the historic old building are the two colonial cannons protecting the entrance.
Over recent decades the museum has focused more on ethnological displays about Borneo's incredibly rich indigenous cultures – including a full-size Iban longhouse – but it is envisaged that in future the museum will restore many natural-history details and exhibition highlights from its heyday a century ago.