Central Market is one of the main Malaysian Cultural Shopping Centers in Kuala Lumpur. This market is also known as Pasar Seni or Pasar Budaya.
Central Market is located at Jalan Hang Kasturi, just a few minutes walking distance away from Petaling Street, or Kuala Lumpur Chinatown. Central Market was built in 1888, which used to be the large and old wet market. After that, it was extensively renovated in the early 1980’s and redesigned as an arts and cultural centre. It has since been classified as a Heritage Site by the Malaysian Heritage Society, and now a landmark for Malaysian culture and heritage displaying a wide variety of Malaysian Arts and Handicrafts, Batek, Antiques and attractive souvenirs.
Central Market is a best place to witness Malaysian culture, art and craft. It is a home to many arts and crafts shops showcasing the work of local artists and craftsmen. A variety of goods are sold here, including handicrafts, souvenirs and art, kebaya, songket, batik and the wide variety of Malaysian cuisine. This is a great place to shop for souvenirs and T-shirts.In addition, visitors can even have their portrait painted or order custom-made craft works. Central Market has created a corner to display multi ethnicity and zoned the stalls based on the features of each race. The new zone therefore would consist of 3 lanes: namely the Lorong Melayu, Straits Chinese and Lorong India. The purpose of this new zone is to let the visitors have an insight of the cultural difference of the various races in Malaysia.
Central Market riverside outdoor stage is a venue for Malaysian Traditional Cultural and Arts events. Central Market celebrates all the traditional festival of each race in Malaysia such as Hari Raya Festival, Chinese New Year Festival, Deepavali Festival, Punjabi Festival and lots more. Central Market events and cultural performance such as Bangsawan (Malay Traditional Theatre), Wayang Kulit (Shadow Play), Chinese Opera, Nadagam (Indian Traditional Theatre) are held here during weekends. Performances are free and normally start at 7.45pm. Apart from that, Central Market supports the local contemporary arts such as art exhibition, video screening, independent music concert and lots more in The Annexe Gallery.
Operating hours: Daily from 11am to 10pm.
Admission: Free
Central Market Management contact: +603 2031 0399/5399/7399/9399
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