Seri Menanti Royal Museum

Sri Menanti Royal Museum

The Royal  Museum & Palace Court Yard

The Royal Museum - Royal Dining Room

The Royal Museum Front View

Tabuh - A big traditional  drum normally used for Royal Announcement & also in old mosque calling for prayers.

Tandu - Traditional wooden carrier - normally shoulders by 4 strongmen.

Seri Menanti Royal Museum
The Seri Menanti Royal Museum was built in 1902 - 1905. It was originally a palace for the Negeri Sembilan Royal family. It is situated in the Royal town of Seri Menanti, about 50 km from the capital, Seremban.

This five storey wooden palace, was built using no nails or screws. The carpenters at the time used wooden pegs so that the palace would be able to withstand the times.

It also uses 99 solid timber pillars, soaring 65 feet. Black in colour, the palace also has intricate flower motifs beautifying the regal palace.

Visitors can find costumes, weaponry, bed chambers as well as documents on the royal lineage on display in the museum


Seri Menanti is the royal town of Negeri Sembilan. It is located in Kuala Pilah. In this royal town, there is Seri Menanti Grand Palace, Seri Menanti Royal Muzeum and Tuanku Munawir Royal Mosque. There is a post office very near the old palace.

Seri Menanti Royal Museum or Seri Menanti Old Palace was used as a royal palace from 1908 until 1931. It was built in Nov 1902 and completed in 1908. Seri Menanti Royal Museum was designed and built by Tukang Kahar and Tukang Taib. The building has 99 pillars which represents the 99 warriors of various clans. The pillars was made using cengal wood and it was said that not a single metal nail was used. (If I were not mistaken, I saw metal used to nail the joins of the windows)

Seri Menanti Royal Museum is a four storey building and about 65 feet high. The structure of the upper roof shaped like a folded scissors. The central tower called the 'Mountain Floor' was used as treasury. The first floor was used as an audience hall called 'Balai Rong Seri'. The second floor was used as chambers for royal family and the third floor was used by the Yang Dipertuan Besar.

A replica of Batu Kasur or Weighting Stone (second row, left side photo) can be found in front of the Seri Menanti Royal Museum. This Batu Kasur is a replica of the original Batu Kasar found in Minangkabau Land in Sumatera. The importance of this stone is that it is used as a testing step before a royal can become the ruler of Negeri Sembilan. The Batu Kasur test is for young prince to sleep on for a few days after a layer of jelatang leaves were put on it. Raja Melewar was the only royalty to passed this test and he became a king of Negeri Sembilan.

A replica of Batu Bertikam (second row, right side photo) can be found in front of the Seri Menanti Royal Museum too. This Batu Bertikam is a replica of the original stone in Kacamantan, Lima Kanun Batu Sangkar in West Sumatera. There is a story behind this Batu Bertikam.
This stone was related to a stab of Dt Pepatih Nan Sebatang's keris onto it as an oath to peacefully end a misundertanding on Koto Piliang Custom with his sister Dt Katumanggungan.

Seri Menanti Grand Palace is located some distance away from the Seri Menanti Royal Museum. As I was short of time to catch a bus back before dark, I did not go to see the grand palace area.

Tuanku Munawir Royal Mosque is the royal mosque was is located outside the Seri Menanti Royal Museum compound.

HOW TO GET THERE? Take a bus from Terminal One and tell the bus driver you want to go to the Sri Menanti Royal Museum or Old Palace. The driver will stop at a junction to go into the museum area. Then you will have to walk about 7 km from the bus stop to reach the Sri Menanti Royal Museum. It is a pretty long walk with nothing to see except minangkabau's houses. Most people will take a taxi. I did not ask for the price, so I do not know how much.

 Visitors can find costumes, weaponry, bed chambers as well as documents on the royal lineage on display in the museum

Key Tips

Opening Hours: Weekdays: Daily: 9.30am - 6pm; Fridays: noon - 2.50pm. Weekends & Public Holidays: 9.30am - 6pm. Thursdays (From 1pm onwards) : Closed Admission is free.


Lastly, if you were to visit any where in Negeri Sembilan, kindly keep the places clean by throwing your rubbish into rubbish bins.