Tuesday, June 23, 2009

My World Tuesday-Visit to the Museum - (Part 5 - Singapore History

Follow me walked to the basement of the Singapore History Museum (new extension). The basement is actually part of the hill of Fort Canning Hill. So some of the exhibits are actually found in fort canning hill.

Admission to the national museum is free but this part of the museum which houses the exhibits of Singapore History costs us $10 per adult and $5 per child but if some schools are members of the museum so their students need not pay the admission fees. So we save $10 on our nephews cause their schools are members of the museum.

If you dont have a museum guide, you can grab one of these audio guides to explain the exhibits.

This is the Singapore Stone. Noticed there are some engravings on the stone. The ancient writtings are still not identified.

The Singapore Stone, sandstone slab, ancient relic, currently on exhibit at Singapore History Museum. The slab is one of three pieces of a large boulder discovered in June 1819 and blown up in 1843 to widen the mouth of the Singapore River. You can read more about the stone from source.

Some jewelleries and coins belonging to the 14th century found during Archaeological Excavations on Fort Canning Hill.


Most Singaporeans should be able to idenitfy the man in the portrait. He is Sir Stamford Raffles.


Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (6 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was an eminent British statesman, best known for his founding of the city of Singapore . He is one of the more famous Britons who contributed to the expansion of the British Empire. You can read more about him from source.


Some letters belonging to Sir Stamford Raffles.


The Revere Bell was a gift by Mrs. Maria Revere Balestier, daughter of Paul Revere and wife of the first American Consul to Singapore, Joseph Balestier.


It was originally presented to the first Church of St. Andrew in 1843. It used to ring for 5 minutes at 8 pm every day to signal the start of the daily curfew. The Revere Bell is now displayed in the National Museum of Singapore.


From time to time, the Revere Bell has been cited as a symbol of the friendship between the Singaporean and American people. (Source: wikipedia )



Now I know why there is a road named Balestier. It is named after Joseph Balestier. You can read why the road is named after him from here.



There are more exhibits of Singapore history in the 14th century but I did not take photos of them all. I will post more photos of Singapore history during WW2 and during the 50s and 60s in coming posts.


Please visit "That's my World" for other parts of the world.

15 comments:

Sylvia K said...

What an interesting museum! And your photos are marvelous! Appreciate the information -- makes for a great post!

Marites said...

i would love to try that audio guide. Singapore is really interesting.

My World entry is up too.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Alice: What a neat look at the history of Singapore.

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

That looks like a great museum.

alicesg said...

Yes, I too like the exhibits, I found that the musuem is so big but they should put even more exhibits....lol. I am so greedy of more information about the past.

L. Neusiedler said...

I like museums! there is always something nice to see!

LadyFi said...

Ancient stones and golden necklaces. I love it!

magiceye said...

wow that was so interesting!

Arija said...

Great to read about the history of the days of yore. I look forward to lots more.

Anya said...

Very interesting information :)
Special from that stone ;)

Jim Klenke said...

I love the exhibit. Museums here normally do not allow photographs.

Erin said...

love all the connections made through your post...raffles and the raffles hotel and the revere bell and so on. history is a most fascinating thing when you can connect all the dots.
so enjoyed the post and the click throughs.
thanks for sharing with us.
have a wonderful day.

Louise said...

Very interesting. Nice pictures, and I love the portrait!

Leanne said...

Thanks for taking us with you. I love museums it's nice to learn something new.

Unknown said...

Interesting tour of the museum and some of the history of Singapore..

Those audio guides are a really good idea !!!

great photos of the exhibits..