Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is an area that covers the countries of Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines. Objects from these countries illustrate their traditional and continually developing cultures.
The cultures of Southeast Asia are multi-layered. Inside is a core of cultures and religions dating back thousands of years. Around this are the layers of the religions and philosophies that have spread throughout the region from India: Hinduism and Buddhism. The layers of more recent global religions, Islam and Christianity, have grown around these. The outer layer is the modern world of growing economies and metropolises. The old cultures are always present in the core and they are occasionally visible on the surface. These layers are reflected in objects from successive periods of history. The spiritual content of these objects, some of which have been in the Tropenmuseum collection for over a century, demands respect.
Because of the historic colonial ties linking the Netherlands and Indonesia, the Tropenmuseum collection contains many Indonesian objects.
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