The Sarawak State Museum (Old Building) is the oldest museum in Borneo. Founded by Charles Brooke, the Second Rajah in the 1860’s, thanks to the great naturalist, Alfred Russell Wallace for his influence. A temporary museum was set up at the Marketplace, along Gambier Street Kuching. The actual building was built in 1889 and opened to the public on 4th August 1891. The building was especially built to permanently house and display local native arts and crafts and collections of local animals. It is a keeper of the rich culture and history of Sarawak and the first class repository of Borneo culture with the world's largest collection of Borneo's flora and fauna. In appreciation of its existence, Sarawak Museum was established as a full-fledged department under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Sarawak. The museum was extended to its present form in 1911. Starting 23 October 2017, it was temporarily closed for an RM308-million refurbishment works. Only RM28M will be spent on the historic building itself, while the rest are to be spent on the Borneo Cultures Museum, located opposite the old building. With a combined total floor of approximately 31,000 square metres, it is the largest museum in Malaysia and the second-largest museum in South East Asia (SEA) after the National Museum in Singapore. It also aims to be one of the finest museums in ASEAN.