Singapore Arts, Culture, Heritage: Asian Civilisation Museum

We started off our visit to the Asian Civilization Museum (ACM) on a Tuesday afternoon at 1pm, agreeing to meet outside the ACM itself. When all of us reached, the first thing that caught our eye at the entrance is the emblem of the museum, illustrated by a picture below. Having done some research beforehand, we understand that the logo of the building has a special meaning by itself. The brown reflected image alludes to the museum as a place for reflection, while the vibrant orange is an invigorating colour which represents activity and energy. Also, based on our research, we also know that ACM is the the only museum in Singapore that focuses entirely on the arts and culture of the Asia-Pacific Region, thus the name Asian Civilization Museum.

Logo of Asian Civilisation Museum

After paying the entry fee of $2.50 for student, we proceeded on into the museum. The first thing that we realised was that it houses many different types of exquisite pan-Asia artefacts ; ranging from the Javanese temple sculpture to the Peranakan gold, textiles and tribal ornaments. Captivated by a particular Chinese gallery house in the museum, we decided to make it our first stop. Inside there, artefacts of olden Chinese era are laid out on the ground as we browse through it one by one. From paintings on the walls to Taoist and Buddhist statuary, we were mesmerized by how people from the old days managed to produce works of such quality with so limited tools. However, we were not allowed to take pictures inside the museum.

Next, we moved on to the South Asia Galleries. With the dim lightings and black background, it is easy to get soaked into the mood immediately. The first thing that we saw was the beautiful stature standing in the middle of the room in a glass case. Then, one of us decided to read the monologue under the stature and found out that its actually a replica of a Indian woman in traditional clothing. Walking around separately, we manage to find other replicas of various culture around South East Asia.

Before long, all of us felt hungry and hence decide to dine at the Pan-Asian restaurant inside ACM. Ordering chicken rice and other Asian-inspired food, we had lunch for 2 hours because the food inside indeed live up to its expectations. Although it was pretty costly, it was well worth the money.

After lunch and a little walk around, our group decided to call it a day. While walking back home, we discussed on why ACM is suited to be categorised under the Arts theme and how additional support could be provided to enhance visitor's experience. We came to the conclusion that Asian Civilisations Museum is fully-equipped with facilities and infrastructure to support Singapore’s Arts theme. Not only does it contain more than 1300 artefacts and art displays, it also strongly promotes the Arts theme by importing certain rare artefacts for temporary exhibition. However, it is still possible to further strengthen the theme appeal.

Here are our suggestions on how to increase ACM visitors :

- The media can emphasise on the importance of learning your own culture through means like television advertisements, radios, and newspaper.
- Encourage schools to visit the museum so that children of today would be more exposed to the Arts and heritage of pan-Asian.
- Asian Civilisations Museum to hold more interesting events on a frequent basis to give the public motivation to visit the museum and learn more about the Arts.