Parts of National Gallery Singapore reopen to public after fire in the morning

SINGAPORE - Some parts of the National Gallery Singapore have reopened to the public in the afternoon of Sept 9 after a fire earlier in the morning.

The fire occurred on the museum’s premises within a “small, contained office area”. No works of art were damaged.

In its initial statement to the media at around 10.30am, a spokesperson said the museum will be closed until further notice.

In an update about an hour later, the spokesperson said some parts of the museum that have been deemed safe will reopen to the public from noon on Sept 9.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said it was alerted to the fire involving an electrical control panel located on the first storey of the museum at about 9.05am.

It was extinguished by the company emergency response team before firefighters arrived. They had used a dry powder fire extinguisher.

No one was hurt and the cause of the fire is being investigated.

The spokesperson said that the museum’s City Hall Wing and the Padang Atrium have been declared safe after checks by SCDF. These areas reopened at 12pm.

The former Supreme Court Wing, however, will reopen to the public on Sept 10.

“The safety of our visitors, staff, and collections remains our highest priority,” the spokesperson said. “We thank everyone for their concern and understanding.”

A Chinese tourist, who wanted to be known only as Madam Liu, said she saw SCDF personnel when she passed by the museum at 11am.

The 68-year-old said the situation felt calm and under control, adding that she was told to return later in the afternoon when she entered and asked about the gallery.

Located in St Andrew’s Road, the National Gallery Singapore is housed in the historic former City Hall and Supreme Court buildings. The 60,000 sq m museum cost an estimated $530 million to retrofit and opened officially in November 2015.

It is home to the world’s largest public collection of Singapore and South-east Asian modern art, according to its website.

There are currently 13 exhibitions, including the Gallery Children’s Biennale 2025. There are also six guided tours, two virtual activities, as well as workshops and SG Culture Pass activities, its website said.

The National Gallery Singapore, in an update on Facebook at 10.55am, said that some screenings of its international film festival Painting With Light scheduled for Sept 9 will not take place.

These included the 12.30pm screening of South-east Asia Shorts at the Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium.

The 8pm screenings will proceed as scheduled, it said in another update at 11.40am. The festival is set to run till Sept 14.

Checks on Google at 10.30am on Sept 9 showed that the National Gallery Singapore was listed as temporarily closed, but as at 12.30pm, it was listed as open.