Asian Civilisations Museum

The Asian Civilisations Museum occupies the neoclassical Empress Place Building on the Singapore River and houses the most comprehensive collection of pan-Asian art and artifacts in Southeast Asia — tracing the trade routes, religious exchanges, and cultural connections that made Singapore a crossroads of civilisations long before the British arrived.

The collection spans the full breadth of Asian culture: Chinese ceramics from the Tang Dynasty trade routes, Indian temple sculptures, Islamic calligraphy, Southeast Asian textiles, and Peranakan decorative arts. The Tang Shipwreck Gallery — built around the cargo of an Arab dhow that sank in the Java Sea around 830 AD with 60,000 ceramic objects aboard — is the standout exhibit, providing physical evidence of the maritime trade network that connected China, Southeast Asia, India, and the Middle East over a thousand years before European colonialism.

The museum's approach — focusing on connections between Asian cultures rather than treating each in isolation — reflects Singapore's self-image as a place where civilisations meet. The Empress Place Building itself, completed in 1867 as government offices, is one of the finest colonial structures on the island, and its location on the river — directly opposite the Fullerton Hotel and within walking distance of the Merlion — makes it an easy addition to any waterfront walk. The ground-floor café has one of the best river terrace views in the Civic District.