Asian Civilisations Museum

I visited the Asian Civilisations Museum on a Sunday at 10:15 AM and was pleasantly surprised to find no queue. We waited around 40 minutes for the guided tour at 11:00 AM, which I highly recommend. The one-hour tour provides deeper insight into key artifacts and also highlights lesser-known pieces with fascinating stories that are easy to overlook. The museum spans three levels, and you could easily spend an entire day exploring its exhibitions. If you don’t plan to dine at the museum restaurant, consider bringing some snacks or takeaways. The displays cover a wide range of Asian civilizations. They offer a rich perspective on Asian history through trade, art, and cultural exchanges. Amenities include free lockers, charging ports with locks, and water dispensers. There is also a children’s section, but note that all visitors are required to wear socks, so plan accordingly if you're bringing kids. One area that could be improved is the navigation within the museum. I found it a bit confusing to figure out where each exhibition starts and how to move through the different exhibitions. Overall, I highly recommend a visit to the Asian Civilisations Museum for anyone interested in learning more about Asia’s rich and diverse heritage.

The museum is very beautiful and interesting. They have volunteers that do guided tours and they are for free (included in the ticket). The point is, if you want you can spend the day there and attend all guided tours available. We only had one, and it started from the top floor. She told us about ceramics, ways of crafting them and how they changed over time. The vessels and the meaning of the paintings done on them. Then we continued to fabrics and jewelry - the guide was very passionate and told us the stories in a very pleasant manner.

Smartly curated museum with a overall presentation of Southeast Asian art. The gallery on beliefs includes several exhibitions of religious artifacts. There are two restaurants for a quick bite. Perfect place to visit during the hottest hours.

The pace of the Asian Civilizations Museum makes it stand out from other museums. There is a calm serenity in the space - an opportunity to read and admire the artifacts without feeling rushed or out of breath trying to get through everything there is to see. There is much to explore, and yet there is space to take it in. The music room on the 2nd floor is serene in the sounds and the lighting. There is a kids play area on the first floor - children and adults must wear socks to enter.

Asian Civilisations Museum is a great place to escape Singapore’s sweltering heat! If you need to cool down after walking along the Singapore river, do come in for a quick air-condition session. The exhibits are nicely done and there’s quite a bit of History to learn here. Museum enthusiasts should and must visit this place!

Brought mum for a museum adventure. Permanent galleries are free for Singapore citizen and PRs. Just show your NRIC and you be giving a sticker to paste on your attire before entering. Its a little noisy as there are students on museum excursions but it still enjoyable experience. Permanent galleries on different religious figurines, items. Musical instruments and many historicals items and antiques on display. If you pretty sensitive on other religions figurines, you can just skip and go to the next one. Beautiful artifacts, ceramic and jewellery can be seen at level 3. The lift was under repair so we have to climb up the stairs to view the exhibition of jewelleries. Overall a good museum to explore.

We were very lucky to have a wonderful museum tour guide that was very knowledgeable and happy to tell us many interesting stories that connected the dots for us across cultures and religions in this region through history. My 10 year old also enjoyed the tour and exhibits. We felt like everything was clarified for us and made much more sense. Thank You so much!

Went here on Sunday, no queue & just buy the ticket on the spot. Staffs are nice & helpful. It's a nice museum, quiet & relaxing. We easily spent few hours here watching the display & reading all the stories.

Absolutely amazing museum with an amazing array of exhibits. Definitely worth a visit if you love museums as much as I (or even if you don't...). There is a lot to see and a lot to learn here!

A great way and place to learn about Asian civilization in the area. Also the perfect place to spend muggy afternoons in Singapore at. There are three floors of a very large building full of great artifacts over centuries of time. I learned about land migration and foreign countries' explorations. One of the first exhibits was wares from a sunken ship the Manila Galleon that were incredibly preserved. Then moved on to centuries of different China. Clothing. Various religions- their statues, history and places in history. Guided tours are offered, but I preferred to wander and read on my own pace.

Some cities have iconic museums- like Paris has the Louvre, New York has the Met, etc. Singapore isn't exactly one of those cities (I mean, if you are a tourist, can you name a museum you came to Singapore to see?) it makes up by having "hard working" museums like the ACM! By hard working I mean they go all the way out and make the best use of what they have and make your visit worthwhile and memorable. The Manila Galleon is a great example- by leveraging their own collections and many loaned items, this exhibition tells a great story of navigation, exploration, trade, culture, and people during the 250 years period between the 15th and 18th centuries when these big sailing ships dominated the ocean world. By contrasting objects created under the influence of trades and a mixture of eastern and western cultures across the Philippines and Central America, the show is educational and eye-opening. Yet it is not overwhelming- we had a great docent who led us through the special exhibit as well as a number of important collections in a 90-minute tour; we spent some time to explore more on our own afterwards. All done in a relaxed and easy way, leaving us some time for photos and scenery outside the museum in front of the Singapore River. ACM is a small museum that can!

This is a gorgeous museum. I took the guided tour at 11:30, which really made the collection more accessible.

A bit more expensive than the National Museum of Singapore, but there's a lot more to see here. Showcasing arts from various Asian countries, you can spend a couple hours here. There's 3 floors here, but the layout of the rooms aren't that great. I had to backtrack on one of the floors because one of the rooms was on the other side. I'm not sure if I went during a promo period, but I received free tickets for a next visit plus a subway card. Not very useful for me since I left Singapore a few days after, hopefully my relatives can get some use out of them.

I really liked this museum, I figured I had a few hours to kill so I went into this museum and learned about all cultures and traditions of every asian country and how they came about. It was also a nice getaway from the heat and humidity outside. Pay a bit extra for the headphones to hear a narrator explain everything as you walk into each room. Photography here is allowed, but no flash photography. I love each and every exhibit and how detailed it was, which war were fought and what was taken from one another. I left there feeling 5x smarter about Asian, especially south east asian countries. I spent 3 hours in here and felt like next to the Louvre, this was one of my favorite museums.

The Guo Pei exhibition was great! It showcased many beautifully designed dresses including the majestic yellow dress that was worn by Rihanna. It was a well curated exhibition. It was interesting to learn that the designer was inspired by the Nonya design and culture. It was a very inspiring exhibition. Nice museum space, hope to visit it again for the other permanent exhibits.

My first visit after the recent renovation works at the museum. One word - Beautiful! I spent my thanksgiving (last night) at the museum for the Afterhours@ACM event - an event organized by the museum bringing in people from all walks of life. This month's gathering is in conjunction with the current exhibition entitled "Port Cities" and its cuisines. We started off the evening with a welcome drink at the beautiful side courtyard overlooking the Singapore river. We then proceed to the Port Cities exhibition lead by Mr. Peter Lee, the lead curator for the night sharing interesting stories and history behind all the artifacts on display. Port Cities is a flashback of the community living at various ports in Asia and a look at their daily lifestyle. We have traders and migrants and the evolution of clothes they wear back in the days, jewelries owned and made by the Chettiars, and of course how can we not include Chinese influence in shaping the history of southeast Asia - from clothing to furniture and paintings. A very well curated exhibition for the curious minds and totally worth a visit. After that, we're off to the most interesting part of night - food and sake pairing! The delicious food was prepared by Empress restaurant located just next to the museum. We started off with various satays found in South East Asia, from Indonesian beef satay with peanut and pineapple sauce, to Malaysian lamb satay with peanut sauce and Peranakan Satay Babi (pork satay) all beautifully paired with sparkling sake. Amazing combo. I was blown away with the sparkling sake, to be honest. Clean finish and not too sweet. We were treated with more excellent food paired with different sakes and champagne from Leigh Atelier throughout the night as various speakers explained the origin of each food served and how it is relevant to the exhibition. If you traced back, they all come from a particular source and cooking method. Besides satay, we have the battle of laksa - Penang assam Laksa (YESSS!) to the more coconut-y ones we have in Singapore. Chicken dishes consist of Ayam Penyet, Singapore's favorite Hak Cheong Kai (Prawn paste chicken) to the Perakanan style Inche Kabin. I particularly liked the Singapore Indian rojak or also known as "pasembur" in Malaysia - fried beancurd served with slivers of cucumber all drenched in a tangy sweet and spicy sauce. We ended the night with 2 versions of otah- Malaysian mackerel otah-otah and the Indonesian version made from fish paste. Very interesting. More sakes and champagne follow suit until it's time to wrap the evening of networking and sharing all set up in a beautiful and relaxing setting. The event wrapped up by 1015pm and I left with a full stomach, slightly tipsy and feeling like a trader - trading stories with guests and learning a little bit about them. The next upcoming Afterhours@ACM will be in February 2017 and I'm already looking forward to it!

The museum sits in the heart of old town Singapore, in an 1860s building of classic design. The regular collection of Asian art and artifacts are impressive. When we visited, the special exhibitions were both high quality and fascinating. The first was a display of artifacts taken from a 9th century Arab trading vessal that sank near Java. It was full of Tang dynasty ceramic ware heading to the markets of the Persian Gulf. The other special exhibit explored the art and artifacts of Burma and its Kings. The museum is wheelchair accesable, and air conditioned.

You know when some Mexican guy technically knocks out your national hero in 6 rounds and you end up slightly drunk and sad on a Sunday afternoon in Boat Quay, AND you know you have to sober up but you don't want to be lame by going home and passing out in your apartment? Well, sober up in class and among the general public by visiting the Asian Civilisations Museum!* My husband decided to take me here, since it was a stone's throw away from the bar and so I could balance out my pathetic self with some culture. (He's so thoughtful, I know.) Because this museum covers the history of a bunch of Asian countries, I found it to be a bit overwhelming. My favorite galleries were the Singapore River gallery and the Islamic gallery. I also liked a few of the interactive displays, specifically the people on those screens who could talk more in depth about certain themes or cultures. History isn't really my thing, so I didn't enjoy this museum as much as the others. However, I do give it credit for having updated and modern-looking displays, and being well maintained overall. Maybe I should take a guided tour sometime to get more out of it. P.S. They're really strict about umbrellas here, so strict that one of the guards told my husband that we couldn't enter an exhibit unless he put his umbrella away, even though it was dry. I simply stuffed it in my purse; I didn't want to argue with him because the last thing I need is to be in the headlines as "Slightly drunk American girl threatens guard at SG's Asian Civilisations Museum over dry umbrella". *I do not recommend visiting museums if you've had too much to drink... especially if you're in this condition: http://cheezburger.com/6748194048

The Asian Civilisations Museum offers a lot to understanding the history of the region and the many cultures which have helped to shape Singapore. The permanent collection is an impressive collection of artifacts and artwork from South East Asia, and I really learned a lot of the many groups in the region. I also enjoyed the exhibit on the Singapore River, which is quite short, but rich in history, and what life was like around the review before Clarke Quay became a bar/restaurant mecca. As a cellist, my favorite was the instrument room on the 3rd floor, which shows what a traditional orchestra looks like. Overall, I enjoyed my visit, but there are 2 things that could be better. First, the exhibits on the 2nd floor are very dense and sometimes, I was not sure where to go next, so perhaps a more deliberate guide would be good. And second, after a long walk, I was parched. They do not have a cafe, so the first thing I had to do was to leave the museum and search for water. Otherwise, it's a great way to spend a few hours and learn about the region.

One of my favourite museums in Singapore. It gives an excellent overview of religious and ceramics art pieces in South East Asia and China, all displayed in a tasteful manner. You can easily spend three hours here.

Points here for the Tang Shipwreck exhibit and a wonderful docent. I was sitting on a bench at the entrance, having not yet bought a ticket, and basically enjoying the AC after having walked in the sun for a while, when she came over to ask if I was joining the tour in a few minutes - no, I hadn't thought about it, but should I? "Absolutely," she says, "and if you're bored, you can always leave!" Off we went. She provided a lot of context that was on some of the display placards, but also filled in with a lot of additional detail and context that I wouldn't have otherwise gotten, which was really nice. The tour consisted of a couple of highlights, the Tang Shipwreck, a gallery of Buddhist artifacts, and some porcelain and ceramics. Although at one point she laughed and said "this museum has so many ceramics" (which is true, it really does), it also has some really stunning furniture with the most elaborate inlay and detail work, as well as the aforementioned Buddhist artifacts and some "Islamic Science" items that are really cool. This isn't a Singapore history museum - it's supposed to just showcase Asian culture, which feels appropriate given the mix that modern Singapore is. The museum might have been recently expanded? Not sure, but there are a lot of galleries either not open or "coming soon" (including one covering Christianity which would have been interesting in context with everything else). So there might be more to see soon...balancing out all the ceramics, hopefully.

This is a great museum to visit and reasonably priced $8 SD for adults, $4 for seniors. The pride and gem is the 1990s finding of the Tang shipwreck near Java by divers in search of sea cucumber. The items from that excavation are exhibited here. The most rare and valuable item is not the gold cups or plates, but rather a set of ceramics from China which are dated to the 800s. I guess this sets the provenance for the entire cargo which was headed to Java when it sank. The ship was made of African wood and was not Chinese built and thought owned by what is present day Iraq and was headed home to the Middle East. It helped establish that globalization and trade by sea existed before the 800s. It was a faster route than via the Silk Route and that pottery specifically designed and decorated for Middle Eastern use was made back then. You can take one of several hourly tours given by volunteer docents who highlight certain items in the museum. I highly suggest doing so and you can see the rest of the museum on your own later. Museums such as this one, provide you with a lot of information on the history of Singapore.

All in all, I thought this was an OK museum. There is a lot to see and it's easy to get lost wandering around and taking everything in. I didn't dislike it, but also can't say it's one of the better museums I have been to in my travels. They have two different ticket fees depending on if you want to see the special exhibition or not. They do allow photos (no flash) throughout the museum so that you can revisit your visit in photos after you leave.

I finally managed to get to this museum forty minutes before I had to start heading back to my hotel and a part of me was worrying that I would be able to see everything inside. Fortunately for me (particularly since I have mastered the art of visiting as many places in as short a time as possible, yet still getting my value for money). All I can say is that this place was really cool - particularly for a history/archeology geek like myself. Basically it has collections of stuff from all over asia, including, but not limited to, swords and statues. In fact I discovered that some of the Indian carvings had a distinctly Greek flavour to them (no doubt thanks to Alexander). There was an exhibition from the Buddha museum in India here, and I must admit that it was much better than I expected - I was expecting to see a room full of Buddha statues (though they did have some Buddha statues in here, if that is what you like). There were numerous carvings that told stories from the life of Buddha, which I found fascinating. They do have this room dedicated to Singapore but I have to say that that room was boring. Oh, and I also managed to get in here for free, namely because the national day public holiday was just around the corner.

There is soomething very peaceful and rewarding when I walk through the exhibition spaces here. I have seen the permanent collections for t least 6 times now, but there's never a dull moment. The south east asian collection never cease to make me ponder on the origins of Asia and Singapore's multi racialism. I once joined the guided tour and the guides here are really knowledgable and friendly. During the school holidays, there are always some special workshop organised for kids. I remembered going for them when i was younger, and now I would bring my younger siblings once in a while!

Somehow the missus and I never get tired of visiting the ACM. Used to be the old empress place building, immigrations department was there, the old government offices and then a private museum before it became a museum managed by the National Heritage Board. The permanent galleries in themselves are enough to keep one occupied for half a day - from the ancient southeast asia artefacts, to ones about the different ethnicities in Singapore and even a secluded little gallery about West Asia. If you explore enough, you will even find a blueprint of the original Empress Place when it was the offices of a certain undersecretary of the British government. Look out for free entry during open houses for the international museum day and the month of August to celebrate Singapore's National Day.

One of my favourite haunts. I absolutely love the romantic architecture of this place. I've been here for the Terracotta exhibit and Family Day and had a ball of a time. It was interesting to see actual Terracotta soldiers, artefacts from tribal people in the region and the exhibits on Islam. Family Day was an interesting affair. They had an interactive tour - a cowboy tourguide brought kids around the museum and got to see staff ham it up at different pit-stops. We were too late to register the kids we brought along, but as we strolled around the museum ourselves, it was obvious that the kids had lots of fun!

Kids and history usually don't mesh well and ACM has done an excellent job of combining the both of them. There are scavenger hunts for kids with a little prize at the end as well. Every major area also had a hands-on section for kids - wearing costumes, trying out a musical instrument, etc. learnt a lot about the history of Singapore and Asia in general. Artefacts date back to 840ad, fantastic. Trace the cultural roots of the island's diverse population through the museum's interactive displays. Virtual hosts greet you at each of the themed exhibits, which focus on the peoples of Southeast Asia, West Asia, South Asia and China. There is a steady rotation of special exhibitions and a fantastic museum shop. Exhibit highlights of this diverse cultural museum include a ninth-century Buddha and a Chinese snuff box

Like all museums in Singapore, this one is a gem: it is located in a beautiful spot in old Singapore and in a grand building that was once meant to be a palace - which gives it enough space to show its collections to perfection. Next to sections on Singapore and its growth from a Malay village to its current state, ther are beautiful and very well documented sections on Indian culture, Malay and Indonesian culture, Vietnam,Camboja and Northern Thailand. Well worth a visit - even too much for just one: I think I wil go again to explore the Indian section and the Islamic one in more detail. Pls. also visit the museum shop: there are the most wonderful presents to be found - some at incredibly low prices.

Beautiful location and building right along the river, currently undergoing significant renovation, but appears to have a gorgeous formal restaurant as well as a casual coffee/sandwich cafe on the ground floor. We went for their special exhibition of treasures recovered from a Tang Dynasty shipwreck, which was worth the price of admission. The tour guide, Sue, was knowledgeable and enthusiastic during her hourlong presentation. Worth a visit, but maybe better to wait until they finish their renovations and open more galleries in the next few months.

This is one of the best museums on any subject that I have come across in any country. It is huge. It is informative (you really do learn completely new things here, which can't be said for every museum). It is high quality. To really see it, you're going to have to visit more than once, since it can be overwhelming, especially if you bring children with you. If you don't see any other museums in Singapore, see this one.

The ACM is one of the finest museums I've ever been to. It has an amazing selection of exhibits, and interactive stations for the younger crowd, or younger at heart. The signs and displays clearly explain the significance of items viewed. We will be coming back.

I am a big museum goer so one of my first stops on this island was the Asian Civilizations Museum. The museum takes a broad view of Asia and includes everywhere from West Asia (the Middle East) through to Korea and south to Indonesia. Curiously, Japan is not in there. I think it's a WW2 holdover but don't quote me in it. The permanent gallery is impressive and very useful as a cultural cliff notes to the region. Temporary exhibits are thrilling if a little stripped down.

Asian Civilization Museum does impress me a little with the many artifacts that it carries. They have a vast collection of them that tells the tale of different parts of Asia. They also make use of background music to create an atmosphere for visitors to immerse themselves in the culture that they are learning about. I would say the explanations are pretty thorough, but it does not engage visitors enough. Okay, I may be a little biased here because I don't like history to begin with. I just thought that more people could appreciate it if it is put in a livelier manner. A pretty museum on the outside and the inside! Just that it's not my cup of tea...

A lot to see and discover! A wide variety up on display with really informative and interesting notes to pick up along the way. Definitely a better than expected experience!

Can I buck the crowd and suggest you *not* visit during open house days? Because while there are special activities there are also CROWDS and that tends to get in the way of actually enjoying the exhibits? I really do like lots of space to enjoy my museums, so unless there is something I absolutely must see, I avoid open houses. Do check for family activities and schedule of guided tours though, because that adds a lot to the experience. For children of varying ages there are all sorts of interactive fun to keep them engaged--there are dress-up photo corners, little puzzles, computer-based activities, so your children will get as much out of the experience as you do. My favorite galleries are the South India and West Asia collections.

Very well presented collection of art pieces from across Asia, with a particular focus on those cultures and civilizations where Singapore immigrants hail from, which perhaps explains the lack of Japanese and Korean art. A must-see while in Singapore, and a great introduction to Asia's riches.