SINGAPORE – People can now register to give their views on a major revamp of the National Museum of Singapore’s permanent galleries, which will take place in phases from September 2023 till end-2026.

The institution announced on Wednesday that its permanent galleries – five galleries on level two, the glass rotunda and the Singapore History Gallery – will be closed at various points for the revamp, starting with the galleries on level two. These will be closed from Sept 4 to 2025.

The museum will remain open throughout, it added. The affected galleries were last overhauled and reopened in the mid-2010s.

Stakeholders and the public will be engaged on “the approach and content at various stages of the revamp”, said the museum, adding that it hopes to explore ways to make its collection accessible to a wider audience through these engagements.

The museum’s director Chung May Khuen said the engagement process will take place across 2023 and 2024, and that those who are keen can indicate their interest till end-2023. They will be contacted when suitable engagement opportunities arise, she said.

Some displays in the level two galleries – four Life in Singapore galleries showing what life was like in the state from about 1925 to 1985, and the Goh Seng Choo Gallery featuring a rotational selection of natural history drawings – will be refreshed, said the museum.

Ms Chung said that since they were reopened in 2015, the four Life in Singapore galleries have offered a “more personal perspective” into the lives of everyday Singaporeans in various periods – an approach that she noted has resonated well with visitors.

To connect these stories to the present day, artefact displays will be refreshed, and the museum will explore how narratives can be brought across in a more engaging and immersive way.

More extensive works will be done on the museum’s glass rotunda – a 15m-tall dome with a 50m-long elevated passageway running through it – and the Singapore History Gallery, beginning with the rotunda, which will be closed from the second half of next year till 2025.

Referring to the rotunda and the Singapore History Gallery, the museum had previously said the upcoming revamp will offer “an opportunity to script a narrative that can be consistently presented across both galleries”.

The museum said in tender documents published in February that the glass rotunda’s new multimedia display should focus on Singapore’s relationship with the environment and how this affects national identity, and the country’s place in the world.

The content, which should remain relevant for the next eight years and engage visitors for up to 30 minutes, could be rotated quarterly, said the museum, which emphasised that the sea should feature prominently in the new display so that the museum can “look into the maritime connections that have defined Singapore historically and contemporarily”.

Given that Singapore is an island state surrounded by the sea, it is “a natural entry point to discuss the history of our relationship with the environment, as part of our larger history”, said Ms Chung.

This also allows related pertinent issues such as climate change and rising sea levels to be raised, said the museum. Ms Chung added that the institution wants to share stories relating to milestones in Singapore’s contemporary history as and when they unfold, including that of the environment.

The rotunda’s current display, Story Of The Forest, which opened in end-2016, features digital projections of animated flora and fauna.

After works on the rotunda are completed, the Singapore History Gallery will be closed from early 2026. It is slated to reopen at the end of that year.

The revamped gallery is expected to incorporate a children’s trail and may have interactive educational spaces or hands-on stations for schools and families, said the museum in a brief for potential exhibition designers in January.

Such potential features will provide opportunities for intergenerational bonding, said Ms Chung, adding that the museum wants to continue to serve families with young children aged five and up – a key audience segment of the museum – well.

The museum also intends the revamped gallery to showcase its Collecting Contemporary Singapore initiative, which began in May 2020 to amass present-day artefacts. These have been displayed in recent special exhibitions by the museum such as 2021’s Picturing The Pandemic, 2022’s Off/On – an exhibition on technology, and Now Boarding, an ongoing exhibition on travel which runs till Nov 19.

Master-planning services for the glass rotunda and history gallery’s revamp will be provided by New Zealand-based consultancy Story Inc.

Besides refreshing its galleries’ contents, the museum will also begin restoration and upgrading works for its main building – officially opened in October 1887 and gazetted a national monument in February 1992. The works will start in September and are slated for completion in 2025, said the museum on Wednesday.

These works will address “common building deterioration conditions due to wear and tear”, said the museum, adding that toilets, lifts and escalators will be upgraded in the monument building and its modern extension.

The museum said its entrances are expected to change temporarily during the revamp and renovation period, and it will announce details when ready.

Flutes restaurant will close from Oct 8, but other dining and retail options at the museum will be open throughout the revamp. Changes to operations because of works – if any – will be announced.

Those keen to be part of engagements on the galleries’ revamp may register their interest at go.gov.sg/nmsengageinterest