Figure 1.3 An exterior view of Panggung Sari.
1.3 SITE HISTORY Since 1964, the Minister of Communication and Multimedia and the Minister of Tourism and Culture had suggested to build a National Cultural Center. Early talks suggested that the Cultural Center should be located at Lembah Pantai, situated in between Malaysian Broadcasting Center and University Malaya. The Cultural Center was planned to be a cultural complex which includes a historical museum, National Art Gallery, Planetarium, a theatre, restaurants and a shopping mall which sells cultural products. In 1971, the National Cultural Congress planned and discussed regarding the construction of the National Theatre. As a result, “Kumpulan Budaya Negara� (KBN) was established in 1972 by the Arts Development Division, Cultural Division and Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports or in short known as KKBS but it had only move amicably. The KBN office, was located at Wisma Keramat hence all activities were held in a house along Jalan Ampang till the end of 1973 when KBN was moved to the National Cultural Complex at Jalan Tun Ismail as it is the location of Akademi Seni Budaya dan Warisan Kebangsaan (ASWARA). Since 1974, KBN was actively involved under the Arts Development Branch, Cultural Division and KKBS. However, the attention was more towards cultural dances and traditional music. Later in 1982, the Young Symphony Orchestra also recognised as OSM was established, followed by the National Choir Group which was established in 1992. In 1993, the Experimental Theatre (ET) was built in the National Cultural Complex and in the same year, OSM was upgraded to become the National Symphony Orchestra or known as OSK.
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