Keeping Up History with Modern Times.

Can't quite remember the last time I went to the history museum. Probably almost ten years ago, during school days. Back then national museum means history kept in glass display cabinets. I vaguely remember peering into these cabinets, imagining how they played a part in our history.

I visited the national museum again today with KC. I think they did a damm wonderful job in keeping up history with modern times.

There were three galleries on exhibition. The Maria Theresia exhibition, the History Gallery and the Living Gallery. The Swedish Design Innovation exhibition was also on for free. We paid 7.50 each for entry to all three @ student rate! Yes don't forget your student cards for tickets at half price. We may be old (oops I mean I am old but KC is still really young at heart), but we are still students lorh. However, we should have just bought entry to two. You will know why in a while...

The Maria Theresa exhibition is about artifacts related to this Habsburg Austria Queen and the royal family. This exhibit ends this Sunday, 28th Jan 2007. I would consider it boring but impressive. Boring as I have no interest in European history and the royal families. Impressive as the clever use of lighting and deco created a very nice ambiance fitting for the mysterious and high class royalties. The pamphlet alone is already really impressive, there are even paper dolls inside!

Here's KC standing between two mannequins. One of them suddenly tapped her shoulders while we were taking this picture! No lah, bluff you one.

Another picture of the scary mannequins in the reflection of the descriptions on the exhibits,

The History Gallery attempted to tell our history as many many little stories. It started out with a peek of our everyday lives, and spiraled down into the ancient histories of the nation. There were two separate paths, Events, and People, to guide us through the history. If you are expecting it will be something like the Singapore Story or some NE exhibition, you are wrong. Rich multimedia elements are used in very clever ways. You will be completely immersed in it with videos, stories, information, artifacts... In fact I think you will need half a day to truly appreciate every detail. It is one valuable history lesson that beats those hours in class. Of course, you will need to do it slowly like what I said earlier to fully enjoy the experience. The gallery closes at six, so you gotta go in early! I was not able to really finish viewing everything! What a waste.

I am not going to disclose the little details that give the "wow" to this gallery so that you will be pleasantly surprised when you visit it. But I will tell you about this green gadget which enhanced the museum experience.

This is probably nothing new, a digital guide, or "The Companion" as the NMS calls it, which you see in other museums as well. But this little green thing is really powerful. It contains the step by step guides to every space in the gallery, the descriptions of each artifact, the interviews of curators and people with their stories, and of course video clips. Think tuning into Discovery History Channel on your Creative Zen Vision.

Remember I said we should have just bought entry to two galleries earlier on? That is because the Living Gallery opens for free after six! Yeah, after the History Gallery closes! So I would recommend you plan your tour according to these opening hours. Btw, the Maria Theresia Gallery closes at six too. It is a short exhibition so you may want to visit that first.

The beautiful glass ceiling on the 2nd level,

So what is a Living Gallery? Living not in the sense of people who are alive but the lifestyle and culture of Singaporeans in the past. The gallery is divided into four segments, Food, Fashion, Film and Wayang, and Photography. The exhibits are surprisingly interactive. For example there is the "smelling booths". Mmmmmmm....

Me and my nose in action!

And me with this ancient film projector,

Beautiful Chinese wayang dolls,

KC in the red red room, in her cute shu nu pose, with my heavy laptop which I carried around all day!

Tourists and citizens alike will love this place. You gotta see for yourself! I hope there ain't many spoilers in this entry but enough goodies to inspire you to visit the newly renovated National Museum of Singapore.