Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
The Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (Muzium Kesenian Islam Malaysia, IAMM) opened on 12 December 1998 on Jalan Lembah Perdana, beside Kuala Lumpur's Perdana Botanical Garden. It was founded by its director, Syed Mohamad Albukhary, whose vision was funded by his brother, Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, through the Albukhary Foundation. Unusually for a museum, the 30,000 square metre building was completed before its collection existed: curators began acquiring artefacts only after opening, working through the constrained budgets of the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis before the holdings grew to today's 10,000-plus pieces. Twelve permanent galleries display Ottoman Iznik ceramics, Qur'an manuscripts and one of the world's largest scale models of Mecca's Masjid al Haram, beneath four exterior domes finished in tile mosaic by Central Asian craftsmen and an entrance inscribed in Thuluth script by Iranian artisans. In June 2026, IAMM opened Tatreez: Reclaiming Palestine Through Embroidery, built from artefacts acquired over 15 years with Lebanon's Inaash Association.
early 1990s
Syed Mohamad Albukhary conceives a museum dedicated to Islamic art in Malaysia, arguing the country's position as a multicultural, Muslim-majority crossroads made it a natural home for one. His brother, businessman Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, backs the project through the Albukhary Foundation.
1997-1998
The building nears completion just as the Asian financial crisis hits, squeezing the foundation's budget. Rather than delay, curators buy modestly priced artefacts first and expand the collection as funding recovers, an unusual build-then-collect sequence for a museum of this scale.
12 December 1998
The 30,000 square metre museum officially opens on Jalan Lembah Perdana, adjoining the Lake Gardens (Perdana Botanical Garden), with twelve permanent galleries across its main levels.
2014
IAMM receives the Kuala Lumpur Mayor's Platinum Award for Tourist Attraction and a Travellers' Choice ranking among TripAdvisor's top 10 Asian museums.
14 December 2018
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad marks the museum's 20th anniversary by launching the Scholar's Library, a dedicated Islamic art research facility that opened holding more than 16,000 volumes across open-shelf, reference and special collections.
12 December 2023
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim presides over IAMM's 25th anniversary, marked by two exhibitions, A Journey Through Islamic Art and Alif Lam Ra: Contemporary Muslim Calligraphy, displaying around 150 masterworks drawn from the collection's growth since 1998.
6 August 2025 to 29 March 2026
Special Gallery 2 hosts More Than a Day as a Tiger: The Legacy of Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan of Mysore (1761-1799), examining the Mysore rulers through royal objects, weapons and personal artefacts.
19 June 2026
IAMM opens Tatreez: Reclaiming Palestine Through Embroidery, running to 25 April 2027, presenting Palestinian embroidery built up over 15 years of acquisitions from Lebanon's Inaash Association and organised by ten regional traditions.
The four exterior domes
Clad in tile mosaic using methods traditional to Central Asia, with the interior domes built by Uzbek craftsmen; a fifth, smaller dome is visible only from inside the building, so visitors on the ground floor see four while the true count is five.
The entrance iwan
The main portal is framed by a tile mosaic bearing a Qur'anic inscription in Thuluth script set against vegetal motifs, executed by artisans brought from Iran specifically for the 1998 build.
Twelve permanent galleries
Arranged thematically across two main levels: Architecture, Qur'an and Manuscripts, and the art of India, China and the Malay Peninsula on one level; Arms and Armour, Textiles, Jewellery and Coins, Metalwork, Woodwork and Ceramics on the other, spanning roughly 1,400 years of Islamic art history.
The Masjid al Haram scale model
Housed in the Architecture Gallery, it is one of the world's largest scale models of Mecca's Sacred Mosque, built to document the mosque's historical expansions rather than as a devotional object.
Ottoman Iznik ceramics
The ceramics galleries hold Iznik pottery from Ottoman Turkey, identifiable by its floral motifs and sealing wax red pigment, alongside Persian lustreware and Mamluk glass, reflecting IAMM's deliberate focus on Asian and Ottoman material rather than only Middle Eastern heartland pieces.
The Scholar's Library
Opened for the museum's 20th anniversary in December 2018 with over 16,000 volumes, it was built specifically to support Malay manuscript research and Islamic art scholarship, a facility added two decades after the museum itself.
The museum was built through the mid-1990s and officially opened on 12 December 1998 on Jalan Lembah Perdana in Kuala Lumpur. The building was completed before its collection existed, with artefacts acquired afterwards.
It was founded by Syed Mohamad Albukhary, who has served as its director since 1998. The project was funded by his brother, businessman Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, through the Albukhary Foundation.
IAMM's founders built the 30,000 square metre structure first and then went on an acquisitions trail, an unusual sequence for a museum. It coincided with the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis, so early purchases were modest and the collection expanded as the foundation's finances recovered, eventually surpassing 10,000 artefacts.
The building has five domes in total, four visible on the exterior and clad in tile mosaic using Central Asian techniques, plus one smaller dome visible only from inside. They mark points across the galleries rather than serving a religious function, since IAMM is a museum, not a mosque.
On 12 December 2023, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim presided over IAMM's 25th anniversary, which featured around 150 masterworks across two exhibitions, A Journey Through Islamic Art and Alif Lam Ra: Contemporary Muslim Calligraphy.
Tatreez: Reclaiming Palestine Through Embroidery opened on 19 June 2026 and runs to 25 April 2027. It presents Palestinian embroidery traditions built from artefacts IAMM acquired over 15 years through Lebanon's Inaash Association, organised into ten regional sections.
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