We arrived at 11am and gathered at the entrance of the museum, we found the museum was very visitor friendly as it had constructed a wheelchair friendly slope to aid wheelchair bound visitors, duely impressed, we proceeded up the steps into the main hallway.
Reading up on a plaque that stated the history of the museum, we were astounded by the information and history that the museum has been through to be where it is today.“The National Museum of Singapore’s history dates back to 1849 when it was started as a section of a library at Singapore Institution. After several relocations, the Museum was relocated to its permanent site at Stamford Road at the Museum Planning Area in 1887.The museum started in 1887 and is Singapore’s oldest museum. The museum focuses on exhibits related to the history of Singapore. The Museum was named the National Museum of Singapore in 1965. For a brief period between 1993 and March 2006, it was known as the Singapore History Museum, before reverting back to its previous name. The Museum underwent a three-and-a-half-year restoration and reopened on December 2, 2006, with the Singapore History Gallery opening on December 8 of the same year.The revamped National Museum was officially opened by President of Singapore S R Nathan and Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lee Boon Yang on 7 December, 2006.”
The sheer grit and tenacity of the museum’s will to live on in Singapore truly amazed us as it shows us how strong one can be even in times of difficulty.
Entering one of its main galleries, we admired the 11 National Treasures; namely the Singapore Stone, the Gold Ornaments of the Sacred Hill from East Java, Daguerreotype of Singapore Town which was one of the earliest photographs of Singapore, the will of Munshi Abdullah, the portrait of Frank Athelstane Swettenham, the hearse of Tan Jiak Kim, a Peranakan coffin cover, the mace of the City of Singapore commemorating King George VI's raising of the island's status to a city in 1951, the Xin Sai Le puppet stage, William Farquhar's drawings of flora and fauna and the portrait of Shenton Thomas, who was the former governor of Singapore.They looked fragile and stood under the spotlights looking important and valuable.
The galleries were really well maintained and adopted vibrant and varied ways of presenting history to us, making what seemed to be boring become fun, breathe-taking and interesting.
Singapore history gallery
Singapore living gallery
The smaller galleries featured an artist called future shape and we were impressed by many of his art pieces. They are the Pink Tanks, Statue with Laptop and Statues with headphones to name a few. The exhibits will not be there on a permanent basis as they are special exhibitions so we were pretty lucky to have arrived at that particular period of time.
Through enquiries with the guards on duty we found out that The National Museum of Singapore collaborates with students, educators and families to create active learning and engaging experiences on Singapore's history and culture. These are carried out by object-centred activities and guided discussions. Participants develop critical thinking and foster appreciation for works of art and history.We feel that this programme will provide the basis for building an interest in the young so that they will become adults who are cultured and have at least a base understanding of the Arts.This would in turn cause a snowball effect increasing the interest in the arts over time.The exhibiting of Singapore’s historical artefacts as well as history allows it to attract many tourists and patrons who are interested in Singapore’s history.
School Programme by National Museum of Singapore
http://www.nationalmuseum.sg/nms/nms_html/nms_content_41.asp?cat=About%20School%20Programmes
Outside National Museum of Singapore
Hallway towards exhibits
At the end of our trip, we left the museum feeling as though we had been taught by the best historans the entire day, our minds reeling with vibrant artistic visuals we returned home.
The National Museum of Singapore is truly a place I would recommend to anyone.
Reference:
http://www.nationalmuseum.sg/nms/nms_html/nms_content_4.asp?cat=Permanent%20Exhibitions
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