National Museum of Singapore

Singapore’s oldest museum, founded in 1887, explores the island’s history and culture through exhibitions, collections, and public programs.

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Singapore History Gallery: A permanent gallery at the National Museum of Singapore tracing the island’s history from its early settlements to independence and the present. Its chronological account anchors the museum’s interpretation of Singapore’s past.
Raffles Library and Museum: A colonial-era Singapore institution combining a library and museum, established in 1887 and later divided into separate institutions. The National Museum began as this combined institution.
Museum education: Learning activities and interpretation designed to help people engage with museum collections and exhibitions. The museum uses educational programs to make Singapore’s history accessible to diverse audiences.
Asian Civilisations Museum: A Singapore museum focused on the histories and cultures of Asia, especially connections shaping the region and Singapore. It complements the National Museum’s national narrative with a wider regional and civilisational scope.
Glass Rotunda: A glass-domed rotunda at the National Museum of Singapore containing the immersive installation Story of the Forest. It demonstrates how digital art can reinterpret objects from the museum’s natural-history collections.
Stamford Raffles: A British colonial administrator who helped establish a British trading post in Singapore in 1819. Raffles’s name and colonial legacy shaped the institution’s early identity and collections.
Public history: The practice of researching and presenting history for audiences beyond academic specialists. Its exhibitions and programs bring historical interpretation into public life.
Peranakan Museum: A Singapore museum devoted to Peranakan communities, cultures, and material heritage across Southeast Asia. Its focused treatment of Peranakan culture intersects with themes in the National Museum’s galleries.
William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings: A collection of hand-painted natural-history illustrations commissioned by William Farquhar in early nineteenth-century Malacca. The collection connects the museum’s galleries to colonial-era documentation of regional flora and fauna.
Singapore History Museum: The former name of the National Museum of Singapore, used after the institution became independent from the National Library in 1969. This phase marks the museum’s shift toward presenting Singapore’s own historical narrative.