The Significance of Religious Objects in Museums as a Cultural Reflection

As the main 'identity' in Eastern culture, religion has a significant role in human life. This paper will discuss specifically about the difference of religious and spiritual perspective between Western and Eastern culture that influence museums' perspective in displaying their religious objects. Western culture tend to be more contemporary, especially in engaging museums' objects. Religious artefacts or objects are treated as 'beautiful' and 'historical' objects in museums. These objects hold valuable information, but also need to be appreciated from their 'spiritual value.' By connecting and comparing the display of religious objects in museums and in their place of origin (temple or sacred place), we could get the sense of meaning and the change of value, which led us to understand the background of each culture and how important it is as the 'identity' of objects or even the 'identity' of culture and civilisation.