Media Statement: Convent Bukit Nanas
MEDIA STATEMENT
20 April 2021
Badan Warisan Malaysia (BWM) is very concerned to learn that the land lease for Convent Bukit Nanas (CBN) at Bukit Nanas, Kuala Lumpur will not be renewed when the current lease ends in September 2021. This recent decision by Jabatan Tanah dan Galian (Land and Mines Department) poses a serious threat to the very existence of this 100+ years old heritage school, in its present form and location.
CBN shifted to its present site in Bukit Nanas in 1909. The school was built by the Public Works Department (Jabatan Kerja Raya) and designed by two government architects, Mr Huxley assisted by Mr Kesteven (the latter also designed the Sulaiman Building on Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin in 1926 and the Sultan Sulaiman Royal Mosque in Klang in 1933) echoing the lines of Gothic style European style monasteries and colleges where the European missionary nuns came from.
Convent Bukit Nanas like all great schools and colleges in the world, possesses a legacy of fine educational traditions and architectural buildings. It would be a tragic loss to our nation that this fine legacy is carelessly destroyed if that corner of Kuala Lumpur at Bukit Nanas is further developed.
Badan Warisan Malaysia therefore calls upon all relevant authorities, including Jabatan Warisan Negara, to ensure that CBN’s built heritage is preserved by a Gazettal as a Heritage Site, and that the land lease be extended for the continued existence of the heritage school there.
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