National Museum of Singapore

Dating back to 1887, the National Museum of Singapore is the city’s oldest museum, and remains a landmark in the local arts and culture scene today. Take your time to wander around this large complex—at 18,400 sq m, it is the country’s largest museum—and admire the iconic rotunda dome through a glass ceiling specially built for the purpose. Located at the foot of Fort Canning Hill, the museum is conveniently located at the heart of the arts and heritage district, within walking distance to several other museums as well as downtown Dhoby Ghaut and the City Hall area. The National Museum houses several national treasures and rare artefacts from Singapore’s history, including a fragment of the Singapore Stone (one of the earliest relics of inscription found in the city), and the William Farquhar collection of natural history drawings. Designed in the neo-palladian and renaissance style, the museum building was once part of a library, and is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the city today.