Asian Civilisations Museum (Empress Place)
1 Empress Place
Owned by National Heritage Board



Built in the neo-Palladian style, the Empress Place Building, which houses the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) is located in Empress Place (named by the Municipal Council in honour of Queen Victoria in 1907). Designed by colonial engineer, J.F.A. McNair, the oldest portion of the Empress Place Building (the part nearest Parliament House) was built between June 1864 and December 1867 by convict labour.

Originally intended to be a Court House, the building was instead occupied by various government departments such as the Government Secretariat, Treasury, Education Department, Medical Services Department, Chambers for the Attorney-General. The central part of Empress Place Building became the Chamber for sitting of the Straits Settlements Legislative Council, which was established in 1867 when the Straits Settlement became a Crown Colony.

During the colonial era, the building was simply known as Government Offices. Over the years, new additions were added to both ends of the building, which remained faithful to McNair’s original design.

Formerly home to the Immigration Department and the Registry of Births and Deaths up to the 1980s, the building was later restored and became the Empress Place Museum in 1989 as a venue for Chinese historical and cultural exhibitions. It was closed for extensive renovation between 1998 – 2003 to convert the building into the second wing and flagship of the ACM, which officially opened on 1st March 2003.

ACM houses ten thematic galleries which showcase over 1300 artefacts from recent acquisitions as well as artefacts inherited from the historic Southeast Asian ethnographic collection of the former Raffles Museum. Displays are complemented by computer interactives and multimedia programmes that document the living traditions of Singapore and other places in Asia. The Singapore River Interpretive Gallery tells the moving story of immigrants who lived and worked on the Singapore River.