Asian Civilisations Museum

The Asian Civilisations Museum is the best museum in Singapore for understanding why the city exists. It sits on the north bank of the Singapore River at Empress Place, in an elegant colonial building from the 1860s that once housed government offices, and its theme is the connections between the cultures of Asia, and between Asia and the wider world, which Singapore's position on the trade routes made possible. The galleries are arranged by themes rather than countries: trade, faith and belief, and materials and design. The star exhibit is the Tang Shipwreck, the cargo of an Arab-style dhow that sank off Indonesia in the ninth century carrying tens of thousands of Chinese ceramics, gold and silver, the largest single collection of Tang dynasty objects found in one place. Displayed in its own gallery, it shows that a sea route linked China and the Middle East more than a thousand years ago, a story that runs straight into Singapore's own. Beyond the shipwreck, the faith galleries hold exceptional Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic and Christian art from across Asia, the trade galleries trace export porcelain, textiles and Chinese and Indian goods made for European tastes, and the materials galleries cover gold, jewellery, ceramics and fashion. The museum also mounts strong special exhibitions. It is the perfect air-conditioned counterpart to a walk along the river: the building looks onto the water, Cavenagh Bridge and the Fullerton, and the river cruise passes right outside.

The museum is part of a cluster that makes the Civic District one of the best culture walks in Asia. The National Gallery Singapore is five minutes away across the Padang, the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall stand next door, and the Peranakan Museum and Fort Canning are a short walk upriver. If you have time for only one museum, choose the National Gallery for Southeast Asian art or the ACM for the wider story of trade and faith; if you have a museum day, do both and buy a combination ticket.

Allow two hours: an hour for the shipwreck and the trade galleries, and another for faith and materials. Free guided tours run on many days and are well worth joining for the shipwreck story. Friday evenings bring later opening, which makes a good start to a night out on the river at Boat Quay or Clarke Quay. Entry is free for Singapore citizens and permanent residents; visitors pay a modest fee, and Tiqets sells both full entry and a cheaper permanent-galleries-only ticket, plus bundles with the ArtScience Museum, National Gallery and Gardens by the Bay.

Getting there is easy: Raffles Place MRT is a short walk across Cavenagh Bridge, and City Hall MRT is about ten minutes. The museum has a riverside restaurant and a good shop for design gifts. It is fully accessible and calm, rarely crowded, and suits couples, culture-curious families with older children and anyone who wants Singapore's history in a wider Asian frame.