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SINGAPORE: The National Museum of Singapore will reopen on 8th December with a month-long opening festival showcasing Asian arts.
The Museum had been closed for a 3-year renovation which cost S$118 million.
At 119 years old, the National Museum is Singapore's oldest museum.
But it also plans to use the most cutting edge technology to present its exhibits.
In fact, the Singapore History Gallery is housed inside Fort Canning Hill, where the funeral hearse of Chinese community leader Tan Jiak Kim, sits.
Nearby, there is a circular wall where the visitor can immerse himself in a film where actors' movements are choreographed to resemble a dance. A 2.5 metre wall and deep beam structures hold the weight of the hill.
The National Heritage Board considers the National Museum as Singapore's most important one because it tells the history of its people.
Professor Tommy Koh, Chairman of the National Heritage Board, says: "I think I will be failing the government and failing Singapore if we tell the history of Singapore in a propagandistic way. We will not do that. We will tell the history of Singapore in a fair, accurate and balanced way, and we also tell it from many people's perspective, not just one perspective."
There are also four living galleries which feature Singapore's film, fashion, food and photography.
At the food gallery, one can smell the aroma of different traditional dishes, hear the distinctive sound of tok tok mee being prepared and feast one's eyes on the artistic presentation of different ingredients and cooking utensils.
International exhibitions from Austria, Sweden and the Arab World will also be hosted at the National Museum in the year ahead.
However, the most distinctive feature of the museum is not the exhibits, but the beauty of its architecture which fuses the contemporary with the traditional.
Colin Wu, Lead Architect of the National Museum, says: "What we have is the glass rotunda, which is a modern interpretation of the old rotunda. Within it is a 360 projection of a picture, image and a story. What's special about this thing is, in the night time, the blackout curtains that are creating the dark environment will be drawn up and the projection will be shown through the mesh, and it will actually become a little lantern.
"This feature happens to be strategically located at the mouth of the new fort canning tunnel which is going to be opened in December, so it is, in a way, a gesture to tell the public that this is a new museum and a new extension has been opened."
Film festivals, parties and theatre productions will also be staged, making the National Museum not just a repository of artefacts but a lifestyle destination.
Lee Chor Lin, Director of the National Museum of Singapore, says: "We want people to think that the museum is a place where they can go and hang out, learn things, look at beautiful things and contemplate life. Not only do we have galleries, we also have activities, cultural performances, and to complete it, we have enlarged our commercial zones which include four food and beverages outlets and two retail shops to satisfy the consumerist urge of our visitors." - CNA/so
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