Asian Civilisations Museum, History museum in Downtown Core district, Singapore
The Asian Civilisations Museum sits inside the Empress Place Building and displays ceramics, bronzes, and sculptures from different parts of Asia. The rooms spread across multiple floors with galleries arranged by theme, each representing different regions and periods.
The museum opened in 1997 at the Old Tao Nan School building with a focus on Chinese civilization. In 2003, it moved to the Empress Place Building and expanded its focus to all of Asia.
The collections span China, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia, showing how trade routes and migrations spread artistic techniques across borders. Visitors can trace how motifs and materials traveled from one region to another, shaping local traditions.
The building offers free daily guided tours that provide context for selected exhibits. Programs with hands-on elements help explain techniques and materials, while online resources make the collections accessible outside a visit.
The Khoo Teck Puat Gallery holds over 60,000 ceramic pieces recovered from a Tang dynasty shipwreck near Belitung Island. The wreck lay on the seabed for more than a thousand years before fishermen discovered it in 1998.
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