National Gallery Singapore
The world’s largest public collection of modern Southeast Asian art, in two landmark buildings.
National Gallery Singapore is a public art museum in the Civic District, facing the Padang. It opened on 24 November 2015 in two adjoining national monuments, the former City Hall and the former Supreme Court, which were converted and linked to create around 64,000 square metres of floor space. The Gallery oversees what it describes as the world's largest public collection of modern and contemporary Southeast Asian art, numbering about 9,000 works.
The two buildings have long histories of their own. City Hall was completed in 1929 to designs by the municipal architects A. Gordon and S. D. Meadows, and was the setting for the Japanese surrender ceremony in 1945 and for the swearing-in of Singapore's first prime minister in 1959. The neighbouring Supreme Court, designed by Frank Dorrington Ward of the Public Works Department, was completed in 1939 and was the last classical building erected in the colony.
The conversion was led by the Paris-based practice studioMilou with CPG Consultants. A canopy of glass and metal, supported on slender tree-like columns, shelters the space between the buildings, while bridges and a rooftop link connect the two wings. The permanent displays are complemented by changing exhibitions, the Keppel Centre for Art Education for children and families, and a rooftop garden gallery. Admission is free for Singapore citizens and permanent residents.
Highlights
- Largest public collection of modern Southeast Asian art, about 9,000 works
- Housed in the former City Hall (1929) and Supreme Court (1939)
- Site of the 1945 Japanese surrender ceremony in the City Hall Chamber
- Glass and metal canopy linking the two wings, designed by studioMilou
- Rooftop garden gallery with views over the Padang and Marina Bay
