Asian Civilisations Museum

The museum first opened STI doors at the Old Tao Nan School building on 22 April 1997 [1] at Armenian Street, with exhibits Largely centered on Chinese civilization. With the restoration of the Empress Place Building, the museum established ITS new flagship museum there on 2 March 2003 Rapidly expanding the collection to other areas of Asia. The Armenian Street branch closed for renovations on 1 January 2006 and reopened on 25 April 2008 as the Peranakan Museum, Specialising in Peranakan culture.

On September 16, 2006, the Museum officially Launched Its New logo with a new slogan The Asian Civilisations Museum - Where Asian Cultures Come Alive !. This new logo Reflects the museum's unique location by the historic Singapore River, the source and origin of Singapore multi-cultural society, Which presents the ACM in Its collection. The brown Reflected image Also alludes to the museum as a place for reflection, while the vibrant orange color is an invigorating Which Represents activity and energy. [2]

On September 16, 2014, the Museum was named the top museum in Singapore and RANKED ninth in Asia by TripAdvisor's Travelers' Choice awards. The Museum was the only Singapore museum RANKED Among Asia's top 10 museums. [3]


Asian Civilisations Museum, Empress Place
Collection highlights [edit]

Head of a Bodhisattva, Gandhara, ca. 4th century

The Kangxi Emperor: Treasures from the Forbidden City, 13 March 2009 to 28 June 2009, at ACM.
The Chinese collection is Represented by fine Dehua porcelain figures, Taoist and Buddhistic statuary, export porcelain, calligraphy and other examples of decorative art.

The South Asian statuary from Galleries feature a broad spectrum of periods Including some fine Chola bronzes. Particularly of note is the Chola bronze sculpture of Uma, the consort of Shiva and That of Somaskanda. [4] The early Buddhist art of India is Present Represented by works hailing from the Mathura and Gandhara schools, Including a rare sandstone Buddha dating to Mathura the Kanishka era, [5] and the head of a Bodhisattva Gandharan. [6] Other areas of note include South Indian woodwork, Nepali-Tibetan bronzes, textiles, late medieval miniatures and colonial prints.

The Southeast Asian collections are broad in scope and are rich in ethnological material. Representing the aristocratic art of Southeast Asia are ancient Khmer sculptures, Javanese temple sculpture (some on loan from Leiden), later Buddhist art from Burma / Thailand and the Sinicised temple art of Vietnam. Peranakan gold, textiles, tribal ornament and theatrical masks are other strengths of the collection.

Past Certain gallery rooms are used for temporary exhibitions. A recent exhibition included the spectacular display of the Bronze Age masks from Sanxingdui, Sichuan Province, China.