Short Getaway to Singapore – Part 3 (National Museum of Singapore)

We’ve been receiving endless questions by our families and friends on why both of us will go to the museum when we travel to a new places? As for us, every places that we visited holds and carries their hidden charms of its traditions, customs, culture and last not but least, history. Besides, curiosity or eagerness is another factor that make both of us to look beyond of things that are currently visible to us. We definitely try our best to visit the local museum as long as the time permit us, the place are easily accessible by public transport and not to forget the cost of visiting the museum (entrance fee) which can be expensive as well.

While we were in Singapore, we managed to fit our times to visit the National Museum of Singapore. This museum is the oldest museum in Singapore and also one of the city’s architectural icon. The museum is easily accessible by MRT and the nearest station is definitely Bras Basah MRT Station. 5 minutes walking across the Singapore Management University and you will then reach the destination.

The tunnel passing through Singapore Management University

National Museum of Singapore

The museum operated daily from 10.00am to 6.30pm while the last admission of the day is at 5.30pm. The admission fees to the Museum building is free and charges are only applicable to the galleries and selected exhibition or programmes. While we there, there’s a few exhibition currently running which is the Genesis and We Defining Stories.

There’s a few selection of cafes and restaurant within the museum too which offered a wonderful dining experiences too.

Flutes

Once we entered the main entrance of the museum, we extremely amazed with the wondrous structure of the building where it is a mix of an old and new structure. While keeping the elegant classical building as the grand entrance, it then extended with a new modern glass and metal structure. The combination are totally amazing!

The elegant classical building section

The new modern structure

The 1st exhibition that we went through was Genesis by Sebastiao Salgado. It was mentioned that the most epic of his 8 years photography journey was first unveiled in Asia here in Singapore. This collection of black and white photography covered 5 amazing geographic section of landscapes, seascapes, animals and peoples in the Amazonia, Planet South, Africa, Sanctuaries and Northern Spaces.

2nd exhibition was the ‘We Defining Stories’ in conjunction of the Singapore Independence Day celebration. We spent most of our times here turning back time to the good old days. ‘We Defining Stories’ is a series of photojournalist images of Singapore’s iconic moments since the post war years from 1950 till 2013. At this exhibition, one could revisit some of the significant events in the Singapore’s history and how all of this could continue to define their future. Some of the photos that attracted us are definitely the photos of Tunku Abdul Rahman (Malaysia’s 1st Prime Minister) and Lee Kuan Yew in tears announcing the separation of Singapore from Malaysia. Besides, riot in between Muslim and Christian in related of Natrah (or Huberdina Maria Bertogh). It brings back all the memories as we actually read the whole book by Datin Fatini Yaacob.

Taking a short break before we continue to the next exhibition hall in the upper floor.

The highlight of all is definitely the Singapore History Gallery. Reason why? The gallery is using a narrative approach and without using even a single printed word to describe seven centuries of Singapore’s history. As there is no printed text anywhere around the gallery, visitor will be given a companion throughout the journey which is the audio visual guide that comes in four languages, LCD display, a pair of earphones and a keypad which enables us to enjoy the audio, visual and the content. Every visual display in the gallery amazed us. It gave the gallery a total new fresh face!

In overall, we spent more than 3 hours here. National Museum of Singapore is totally a place to learn the history and culture of Singapore. It tells you the whole story of the country in a manner that both fun and rewarding!

One happy face!

We will continue our journey on the one and only themepark located on Sentosa Island, Universal Studio Singapore (USS) soon.

Simply us,
Zara AB & FF
The Province of Chroma