These days, it's super easy to get cultured in Singapore; why, the Lion City happens to be home to several top-level museums and galleries in the entire region. Are you planning to fill up your free time with some culture and art? Simply make your way to the nearest museum. You'll get an opportunity to learn about the history and untold stories that have shaped the local people's identity for decades.

The National Museum

The Singapore National Museum happens to be the largest local museum. The museum has two main galleries- the Singapore Living Gallery and the Singapore History Gallery. The latter carefully traces Singapore's history, starting from how the nationhood began in the 14th century, going on to the current times. On its part, the Singapore Living Gallery dwells on four primary themes- fashion, food, photography and film. While here, ensure you visit the Story of the Forest section and the permanent exhibition; you'll definitely experience the power of the National Museum's collection- it's amazingly made vivid with a spectacular digital presentation.

ArtScience Museum

The art science Museum beautifully fuses art and science. The museum features 21 gallery spaces; it has hosted many world-famous exhibitions in the past. Many of these exhibitions featured costumes, props and sets from blockbuster films in the mould of the Harry Porter franchise and Titanic. You'll find that Future Word, which is the current permanent exhibition, is a true mind-bender. Team Lab, the Japanese art collective, is credited with designing the exhibition. The spectacular show memorably takes visitors around an exciting interactive journey characterized by digital art, music and magic.

The Asian Civilizations Museum

This museum is recognized as the first in the entire region to present an integrated perspective of civilizations and pan-Asian cultures. The museum has 11 galleries that showcase over 1,300 artefacts from various civilizations, including South Asia, West Asia and China. In this place, you can enjoy an exciting collection put together by modern Chinese masters as well as the famous Dr Tan Tsze Chor. There are many collections by several Singapore artists who prepared the exhibition pieces featuring the 20th-century turbulent events.

Changi Chapel and Museum

Changi Chapel Museum is hosted in a purpose-built venue; the chapel is actually a reconstruction work (note that the original came to Australia soon after the war). Many consider Changi Chapel Museum the most iconic of all World War II sites in Singapore. You might be particularly interested in hearing the stories of ingenuity and industry that come from within the POW camps located right there.

Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum

The Lee Kong Chian NHM is the first-ever South East Asia's natural history museum. The museum spreads over 2 floors and covers 2,500 sq m over 15 zones. The gallery section showcases more than 2,000 S. E Asian plant and animal specimens. You can enjoy the event highlight- it offers you the chance to get close to and familiarize yourself with several 150 million-year-old dinosaur fossils; there are three of these. What a sight!

Singapore Art Museum

This was a former boys' catholic school that was later converted into a public museum in the 1990s. At that time, the government had a policy that directed converting old colonial buildings into public utilities and museums. The Singapore Art Museum has relatively tiny, hidden gallery spaces. Thus, it has never had the chance to host any blockbuster shows. Instead, the museum focuses on holding smaller exhibitions. Most of these features 20th-century Asian visual art; it often draws from a private collection of pioneer art from S.E Asia. Note that the Singapore Art Museum was recently closed for redevelopment; it planned to reopen sometime in 2021.

Parkview Museum Singapore

This museum is otherwise known as the ";Gotham City"; building. The Parkview square carries the largest Italian art collection in the entire SE Asia region. It has a huge range of contemporary art features from Europe and Asia. The museum's private gallery has hosted exclusive exhibitions as well as themed showcases. It has also offered guided gallery tours for many art enthusiasts.

Creative Workshop and Gallery

The Creative Workshop Gallery was first established in the year 2002. The gallery generally promotes artistic experimentation with print and paper mediums. It features contemporary artworks and works with various international curators, gallerists and collectors. Do not forget to visit the Axis World; this is essentially an exhibition guest that the local art guru Tan Siuli curates.

Enter and explore the marine realm of S.E.A. Aquarium, home to more than 100,000 marine animals of over 1,000 species, across 45 different habitats, each one as fascinating as the next. It's a marine life experience you won’t forget.

Be greeted with a larger, more spacious and refreshed S.E.A. Aquarium adventure!

With the addition of a new immersive zone, your S.E.A Aquarium adventure is now extended into the tropical rainforest and intertidal coastal terrains before taking you across the underwater cities of brightly-hued coral reefs. Offering plenty of open spaces for everyone to explore and view the exhibits with safe management measures in place, the enhanced zone will intrigue young and old with its eye-catching educational displays that inspire marine conservation.

At the new Rainforest, Intertidal and Coral Reef Habitats, come face to face with interesting creatures such as the poison arrow frog, epaulette shark, native knobbly sea star and the colourful plant-like animals – coral frags. It’s good news all around! S.E.A Aquarium has also welcomed more babies to the sea family! Among the newborns are the distinctive leopard whipray and white-tip reef shark, both listed as "Vulnerable" and "Threatened" in the IUCN1 Red List of Threatened Species belonging to the elasmobranch (both sharks and rays) species. Other newborns like the poison arrow frog and epaulette shark are housed at the new zone, so keep an eye out for them there.

S.E.A. Aquarium Fun Academy

Learning doesn't have to be boring, and here at S.E.A. Aquarium, it's always fun! Check out their series of engaging activities for children from pre-school to primary school to learn all about marine animals and ocean conservation.

Safer Moments Together

In view of the prevailing COVID-19 developments in Singapore, Resorts World Sentosa will be operating at reduced guest capacity and observing tighter safe management measures in accordance with the Government’s latest guidelines.

On their website they say: The well-being of all our guests and team members has always been our priority. We are committed to supporting the Multi-Ministry Taskforce and adhering to the Phase 3 (Heightened Alert) safe management measures that have been announced in light of the heightened COVID-19 situation. Most of your favourite attractions and hotels are operating at revised capacities. Additionally, TraceTogether-only SafeEntry has been implemented across the resort to ensure that every moment is as safe as it is enjoyable for everyone.

A*STAR is Singapore’s lead public sector agency that spearheads economic-oriented research to advance scientific discovery and develop innovative technology.

At A*STAR, our biomedical sciences and physical sciences and engineering research institutes drive impactful research making advancements in basic science, to patented inventions, and ready-to-use technologies. Our facilities are centred around Biopolis and Fusionopolis, the adjacent twin research campuses that focus on biomedical and physical & engineering sciences.

A*STAR has built strength in biomedical R&D activities in the field of Asian nutrition, bioimaging, biodevices and diagnostics, bioprocessing, clinical analysis, computational biology, delivery and packaging, drugs/biologics discovery and development, encapsulation, formulation, human development, immunology, molecular and cell biology, modelling and simulation, skin and hair biology, and systems biology.

A*STAR's physical sciences and engineering capabilities span a wide range of fields, including advanced manufacturing, chemicals, communications, computational sciences, data storage, materials, metrology and microelectronics.

A*STAR has also developed various symbiotic public-private partnerships, which help enhance the capabilities of the public R&D sector and drive the development of knowledge-intensive enterprises.

Young Scientist Awards

The Young Scientist Awards (YSA) recognises young researchers, aged 35 years and below, who are actively engaged in R&D in Singapore, and who have shown great potential to be world-class researchers in their fields of expertise. This award is administered by the Singapore National Academy of Science (SNAS) and supported by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

There are two categories of Awards, namely: Biological and Biomedical Sciences; and Physical, Information and Engineering Sciences.

President's Science and Technology Awards

The President's Science and Technology Awards (PSTA) are the highest honours bestowed on exceptional research scientists and engineers in Singapore for their excellent achievements in science and technology. These national awards are given annually to recognise and celebrate outstanding and invaluable contributions by individuals or teams to the research and development landscape in Singapore.

2009 marked the first year that the President's Science & Technology Awards were presented. The awards, formerly known as the National Science & Technology Awards since 1987, were elevated to the status of the President's awards to highlight and give due recognition to the important role research scientists and engineers play in Singapore. The prestige of the President's awards underpins Singapore's efforts to raise the level of excellence in research and strengthen the growing community of scientific talent in Singapore.

The President's Science & Technology Awards is made up of three different awards, namely, the President's Science & Technology Medal (PSTM), the President's Science Award (PSA) and the President's Technology Award (PTA). The winners of the respective awards have been carefully chosen through a rigorous process by a selection committee comprising key representatives from the government, industry, academia and public research institutes.

A*STAR houses over 30 research institutes, programmes and initiatives. Their capabilities span a wide range of research fields, in both biomedical and physical and engineering sciences.

About Science Centre Singapore. Our Vision: Where Science befriends and transforms the minds of millions. Our Mission: To promote interest, learning and creativity in science and technology, through imaginative and enjoyable experiences, contributing to the development of Singapore’s human resource.

While formal educational institutions make sure we are raising a nation of “science literate people”, Science Centre Singapore takes this to the next level. We make science accessible and engaging, creating an environment where Singaporeans are empowered to advance their own learning and, hopefully, are inspired to do something incredible with their futures. Some of the ways we do this are by: Setting up exhibitions to illustrate the principles and powers of science and technology in everyday life. Conducting school programmes to complement the school science syllabus. Producing scientific magazines and natural history guide books. Organising promotional activities to bring science closer to the people of Singapore

Science Centre Singapore was opened on 10 December 1977 by Dr Toh Chin Chye, then the Minister of Science and Technology. Today, the Science Centre Singapore, together with Omni-Theatre and Snow City, receives more than 1 million visitors annually.

In 1969 the Government decided to convert the National Museum into art and historical museum and build a new institution devoted to scientific and technological education. The Science Centre building – comprising the Main Building, the Annexe, Outdoor Gardens, Omni-Theatre and Snow City – was designed by Mr Raymond Woo.

The Omni-Theatre, Singapore’s only IMAX dome theatre, was established in 1987. In 1989, Science Centre Singapore opened Southeast Asia’s largest Observatory, which now receives more than 10,000 visitors annually.

From 1998 to 2003 the Centre carried out a complete refurbishment of its 14 exhibition galleries. An expansion project in 2000 introduced an integrated complex consisting of the Annexe Building, Kinetic Garden and Snow City – Singapore’s first and only permanent indoor Snow Centre. In 2014, The Cliff, a world-class sport climbing wall, was added to Snow City. Two months later, the Centre launched KidsSTOP™, a children’s science centre that focuses on enriching learning for children aged 18 months to 8 years.

The Future: into the 21st century

Science Centre Singapore’s aspiration has shifted from being a world-class science centre to a place where science befriends and transforms the minds of millions. The Science Centre Singapore is a leading Science Centre in the region housing twelve exhibition galleries with more than 1,000 interactive exhibits.