Museums

Historical and cultural items from the Baba culture are displayed in cultural establishments on Heeren Street, Jonker Street and other streets in the same neighborhood in Malacca and in Penang in Malaysia, and at the Peranakan Museum in Singapore. There one can find museums displaying furniture, food stuff, and even traditional clothes of the Baba and Nonya. There are also a small number of "Nyonya" restaurants in Singapore, Penang, Malacca, Jakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, and the West. Free weekly street shows featuring Baba performances, and traditional and pop Chinese cultural performances are found in Jonker Street in Malacca (Melaka). The shows are part of the night market (pasar malam) scene, and are usually crowded with shoppers, both local and foreign. In Indonesia a large population of Peranakans can be found in Tangerang, West Java.

The Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum is popular museum in Malacca. The museum showcases the best of distinctive cultural values and lifestyle inherited by the Baba Nyonya community of Chinese - Malay ethnics. Baba refers to the Male descendent, while Nyonya refers to the female. The interesting intermarriage between the two different races of early Chinese male settlers and local Malay women resulted in this unique culture which is uncommonly seen in today’s urban city.

The Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum comprises three well-preserved townhouses dating back to mid 19th century. The museum is privately owned with a traditional homey ambiance unlike visiting a conventional museum with items kept inside the glass enclosures. The design of this ancestral house is influenced by the neo-classical European architecture, with heavy Greco-Roman columns. The interior of the house is furnished with numerous antique pieces in finely carved hardwood. The furniture is generally bulky and heavy, but featuring classic Chinese work of art.