When in Singapore: Get to know the Lion City a little more intimately at the National Museum of Singapore

To get to know someone, spend some time with him. To get to know a place, immerse yourself in its culture. The best place to start a cultural immersion? The local museum. 

With every new place I visit abroad, the local museum is always the first stop. It's getting a grasp of what transpired in the past that will make one understand the present. Plus, the local art and its masters are always worth my while. 

However, it took me the third visit to see Singapore's museums. On the previous couple of trips to the Lion City, the host's agenda and pace were like military drills. Visiting on my own on the third visit, I inked the three museums in my itinerary. 

I squeezed in the three Singapore museums tour in a day. Yes, it’s possible. Rushed? Not at all. The museums are not as expansive as the Louvre, where it can take more than a lifetime to appreciate its contents.

First on the list: the National Museum of Singapore at 93 Stamford Road. It's a 10-minute ride or 20-minute walk away from my home base at No. 5 Raffles Avenue.

Birthed from a section of a library in 1849 to the 18,400 square-meter museum housed in its redeveloped Neo-Palladian-styled edifice, the National Museum of Singapore is the oldest and the biggest museum in Singapore today, focusing on history and culture. After the museum’s three-year extensive restoration and reopening in 2006, it was awarded the Best Reinvented Attraction Award a year later.

The National Museum of Singapore focuses on exhibits related to the history of Singapore. It presents its exhibitions via cutting-edge modes to redefine the conventional museum experience. Not only is the museum the custodian of eleven National Treasures, but it’s also the residence of lauded exhibitions and host to vibrant festivals all year round. At any given time, the museum is one of the most exciting spots to visit for locals and tourists alike.

Of all the current exhibitions mounted on this visit, I found the History Gallery quite impressive. The gallery lets one explore Singapore from the 14th century to the modern era via two paths: the EVENTS PATH (featuring the major events and characters in history) and the PERSONAL PATH (featuring history through the eyes of the man on the street). The experience is like experiencing the History Channel on a 360-degree LCD screen or the artifacts on exhibit.

The History Gallery

At the Living Galleries, Film, Photography, Food and Fashion. I fell in love with Film & Wayang’s “Scripting a New Life.” The exhibition was visually striking and audibly stimulating. Walking through the collections of iconic films and paraphernalia, the intricately embellished Chinese opera costumes, and a collection of puppets, including a 1930s Southern China puppet stage belonging to a Fujian troupe that visited the Lion City, was made more engaging with cinematic theme music playing in the background.

As impressive as the Living Gallery's offering was the “Shopping for Identity” exhibition at the Fashion Gallery.

“As the men take their place as leaders of the new community, the womenfolk too are expected to be at their side, braving the public eye,” Margueritte Rodrigues, Her World, 1962. When confronted with such powerful words in a museum's Fashion Gallery, one should expect that there is more to fashion than it is perceived to be. 

The costumes in this stylish and provocative room relate the story of Singapore women shopping for identity and shifting identities from the 1950s to the 1970s. The exhibit also explains how their roles in the social, economic and political scene evolved. 

Stepping out of the galleries, I was glad to get to know Singapore a little more intimately. It's an interesting visit to the country's past, and the National Museum of Singapore chronicled it skillfully. 

While adults have preferences for what they want to see in a museum, the children have their own. The National Museum of Singapore mounted an activity for the young generation asking what they want to see in a museum. Through drawings, the young ones responded. From my perspective, one unsigned sketch stood out—an orange tree. I never found out why.