Musings of the National Museum of Singapore

On one of my free days in Singapore, I allocated a visit to the National Museum of Singapore!

I am glad I did because the Museum was so well-kept and had so many interesting things to see and learn. I advise you to put aside a couple of hours to fully be able to absorb as much as you can.

I personally spent around 3-4 hours there and it was great because I was alone and had nowhere to be.

The National Museum of Singapore was pretty near my hotel, but I took a Grab because I ventured out to Haji Lane earlier that morning for brunch.

 The Museum has a beautiful architecture and is two-floors high

Excuse the tissue lol

Tickets are S$15 for non-Singaporeans for a one-day admission

I started off with the Gallery on Level 1 at the Singapore History Gallery. The Singapore History Gallery section takes you through the many stages of the making of modern-day Singapore from Singapura, a Crown Colony, Syonan-To, to finally, Singapore.

I didn't take many photos but if you want an interactive read on the Museum, you can read here.

Not sure if I am morbid or simply curious and history-indulgent, but the World War 2 always intrigues me, so I spent the most of my curiosity and attention in the Syonan-To section which was about the Japanese Occupation in Singapore from 1942 to 1945.

Singapore was renamed to Syonan-To (Japanese for Light of the South) in 1942 when the British surrendered and the Japanese took over. They only left in 1945 when they surrendered to the Allies.

There were lots of 'listening devices' in the Museum recorded by real life individuals (alive and not). This one above had recordings of real people back during the early days of the Japanese Occupation when Singaporeans slowly and quickly realized things were changing, when they were not officially informed about the British surrender yet..

This was towards the end of the Gallery, with Singapore already well, Singapore and there is a video of Lee Kuan Yew giving a speech about the un-merging of Singapore and Malaysia. It was slightly unnerving to see him talk about Malaysia in not the best light, but I do respect personal opinions.

After I was done with that part of the Museum, I advanced to Level 2, the Glass Rotunda: Story of the Forest.

Drawing inspiration from the National Museum of Singapore’s prized William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings, Story of the Forest brings to life 69 drawings from the collection within the museum’s Glass Rotunda. A selection of these drawings are on display in the Desire and Danger exhibition at the Goh Seng Choo Gallery, which explores the intriguing relationship between man and nature. 

This immersive installation by internationally renowned art collective teamLab is divided into three key experiences, beginning with the Upper Rotunda, followed by The Passage and ending at the Lower Rotunda.

I remembered it to be really trippy because there were psychedelic lights everywhere and me getting lost because you had to enter through black curtains.

On Level 2, there were also other galleries like the Growing Up Gallery, which walked through the 1950s and 1960s of Singapore; through the growing up in Singapore then during the kampung times and how they went about.

There was also the Voices of Singapore Gallery which showcased Singapore as a cultural entity and how they grew not only politically and economically but also through music, performances, television and theatre as a form of self-expression in the 1970s and 1980s.

Also, there is an entire gallery of really old trees in Singapore. Lol.

Thanks for the fab time, National Museum of Singapore! I definitely recommend!