The National Museum of Singapore (NMS) will reopen its Singapore History Gallery on October 10, featuring more than 2,000 artefacts spanning 700 years of the city-state’s history. The revamped permanent gallery offers visitors an in-depth look at Singapore’s transformation from its pre-colonial roots to its modern landscape, with a range of newly commissioned and rarely seen objects.
Among the new exhibits is a model of a jongkong, a traditional one-person canoe from the Riau-Lingga region, crafted by Indonesian boatbuilder Nasrun Syawal. The jongkong, referenced in early 17th-century Malay texts such as the Sulalat al-Salatin, symbolizes the maritime heritage that shaped the region long before contemporary shipping vessels dominated Southeast Asian waters.
The gallery also includes a distinctive septagon-shaped chair originally designed by Phillips Connor in 1996 for Phuture, an experimental club housed within the former Zouk nightclub. This seven-seat chair, known for its avant-garde style, recalls the vibrant nightlife scene of the period.
A 1940s coffee roasting machine from Ho Ti Coffee Powder Factory underscores Singapore’s rich food and beverage history. The industrial apparatus, once operated by three individuals to roast robusta beans for Nanyang coffee, captures the labor-intensive processes behind a local staple that remains popular today.
Visitors will also find a time-lapse video created by Singapore-based Australian artist Keith Loutit, which condenses years of construction and demolition into less than three minutes. The clip visualizes the rapid transformation of Singapore’s skyline from 2012 to 2026, highlighting how quickly the city’s urban landscape evolves.
Art plays a significant role in the gallery’s narrative, with a woodcut print by Lim Yew Kuan displayed for the first time at NMS. The 1966 print depicts the aftermath of a fire in Bukit Ho Swee and is part of a collection that illustrates how social realism was used by artists to highlight working-class struggles and anti-colonial sentiments. Lim, a founding member of the Equator Art Society, is featured along with contemporaries such as Koeh Sia Yong.
Another notable exhibit is the passenger lift from a 1970s Housing and Development Board (HDB) block in Ang Mo Kio. Salvaged by the museum following a tip-off from lift enthusiasts in 2024, this lift is believed to be the oldest functioning HDB lift of its kind. Its mosaic exterior offers visitors a nostalgic glimpse into Singapore’s earlier public housing environment.
The gallery also showcases a large ink painting by Tan Chong Tee depicting the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, a pivotal event in the Sino-Japanese War. Tan, a Singapore-born artist and member of the wartime resistance group Force 136, combined his artistic skills with his historical experiences. The work is accompanied by an interactive installation that explores the intersections of art, war, and memory.
Rounding out the highlights is an 1881 multilingual census form, shown publicly for the first time. This document, written in English, Jawi, Tamil, and Mandarin, reflects the island’s early linguistic diversity and the colonial administration’s classification practices after Singapore became a crown colony in 1867. Notably, it includes detailed classifications of the Chinese population by birthplace, marking the first census in 1884 to recognize Straits-born Chinese as a distinct group.
Together, these exhibits offer diverse perspectives on Singapore’s historical journey, showcasing the interplay of culture, society, and modernization within the island’s evolving identity.