Singapore river gallery
gallery 1

An open window provides views across the Singapore River to the glinting towers of steel and glass of the busy financial district. The river has always been central to Singapore's commercial and social life. Yet the fortunes of those who lived and worked near it have for centuries, ebbed and flowed like the tides of the river itself.

Singapore's location has long attracted traders from all over the world. Archaeological digs on the island have brought to the surface abundant evidence of settlement and maritime commerce from the early as the 14th century. An excavation carried out on the banks of the Singapore River by the Empress Place Building recovered shards of 14th century Chinese ceramics, which would have been expensive luxuries at the time. Also found was a tiny figure of a horse and rider in the Majapahit style (the Majapahit Kingdom was a dominant power in the region at the time) these and other excavated materials are on display in the Gallery.

Trade brought wealth and sophistication to Singapore. The lives of those that enabled this trade were, however, far from sophisticated. The simple implements and clothes of the 'coolies', who quite literally carried the colonial era on their backs, tell a different story. Cramped living conditions, gangs, opium addiction and gruelling work were among the hardships faced by coolies and other workers in Singapore.

The Singapore River Gallery tells many stories, from coolies' to Chettiars, the indigenous Orang Laut and the newly arrived Europeans. It forms a natural embarkation point for a journey into the other galleries, where you will be swept further back into the past and the myriad cultures of Asia.