Indian Heritage Centre, Singapore is a modern building near Little India station. I saw the advertisements for the Heritage centre in advertising panels on either side of the doors of the station. The first time I saw the advertisements I made a mental note to go back and see the Heritage centre. The second time I was returning home after having lunch in Little India when I saw the advertisement again. I looked at the address and realised the street was very nearby.
I had just photographed the name. The street is the other side of the Tekka centre which runs from one exit of the station to the other, next to the street where you see the Heritage centre. Annoying as it was to retrace my footsteps, it was a lot quicker than making a special trip.
I had previously stopped at the end of the street, Campbell, to photograph the lanterns.
Strangely, I had not seen the centre from the end of the street, nor registered that it was a museum. On the way I was side tracked by the Indian clothes and souvenir shops selling caftan style see through tops in bright colours.
Most of the nearby buildings are shophouses, where the ground floor is a shop, with living quarters on one level above. How is this different from the modern high street with flats overhead? In the UK you often have living accommodation above shops.
The difference is that in the UK the staircase is at the back, separate from the shop, either from outside the back wall, from a communal staircase between the shops, or like Singapore HDB flats, with a main staircase at either end of the buildings, with a corridor along the upper storey connecting the outside of all the flats.
The shophouse is like a house with the front room turned into a shop. Any downstairs toilet and kitchen is shared with the upstairs living accommodation (bedrooms). Sometimes the downstairs room at the back is not used for storage of shop goods but as the living room of the owners, or another bedroom.
The heritage centre is modern with a glass front. On the ground level are a shop to your left as you enter and the museum ticketing desk to your right. The shop has books on the history of Singapore and Indian history in Singapore and elsewhere.
The price is affordable. Singaporeans and Permanent Residents pay nothing. Visitors from overseas pay a modest entry fee.
The permanent exhibition galleries are on the third and fourth floors. Stairs to the upstairs are on the outside front of the building, echoing a popular Indian style of architecture, although they are covered in glass. Quite steep.
On the fourth floor everything is sparkling new and clean. Toilets for men and women and water fountains for adults and children.
A film starts the whole proceedings. It is very clever, with photos of old world scenes of Indians in Singapore and the countries they came from, and the characters in the centre of the photos appear to come to life and walk off to the right and left of the screen. I don't know whether it's done with actors dressed just like the people in the photos, or whether a photo of the actor's face is superimposed on the photo.
You begin walking around the gallery seeing previous centuries, the myths, temples and the architecture.
Coming into the 20th century, you see photos and depictions of world famous people you may know.
Mahatma Gandhi
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
I had just photographed the name. The street is the other side of the Tekka centre which runs from one exit of the station to the other, next to the street where you see the Heritage centre. Annoying as it was to retrace my footsteps, it was a lot quicker than making a special trip.
The advantage of the outside steps (behind glass) is that you look down on the shophouses below.
Walking down the outside steps is not for the nervous. (You can take the lift.)
I had previously stopped at the end of the street, Campbell, to photograph the lanterns.
Strangely, I had not seen the centre from the end of the street, nor registered that it was a museum. On the way I was side tracked by the Indian clothes and souvenir shops selling caftan style see through tops in bright colours.
Most of the nearby buildings are shophouses, where the ground floor is a shop, with living quarters on one level above. How is this different from the modern high street with flats overhead? In the UK you often have living accommodation above shops.
The difference is that in the UK the staircase is at the back, separate from the shop, either from outside the back wall, from a communal staircase between the shops, or like Singapore HDB flats, with a main staircase at either end of the buildings, with a corridor along the upper storey connecting the outside of all the flats.
The shophouse is like a house with the front room turned into a shop. Any downstairs toilet and kitchen is shared with the upstairs living accommodation (bedrooms). Sometimes the downstairs room at the back is not used for storage of shop goods but as the living room of the owners, or another bedroom.
The heritage centre is modern with a glass front. On the ground level are a shop to your left as you enter and the museum ticketing desk to your right. The shop has books on the history of Singapore and Indian history in Singapore and elsewhere.
The price is affordable. Singaporeans and Permanent Residents pay nothing. Visitors from overseas pay a modest entry fee.
The permanent exhibition galleries are on the third and fourth floors. Stairs to the upstairs are on the outside front of the building, echoing a popular Indian style of architecture, although they are covered in glass. Quite steep.
Ladies Toilet
On the fourth floor everything is sparkling new and clean. Toilets for men and women and water fountains for adults and children.
A film starts the whole proceedings. It is very clever, with photos of old world scenes of Indians in Singapore and the countries they came from, and the characters in the centre of the photos appear to come to life and walk off to the right and left of the screen. I don't know whether it's done with actors dressed just like the people in the photos, or whether a photo of the actor's face is superimposed on the photo.
You begin walking around the gallery seeing previous centuries, the myths, temples and the architecture.
Coming into the 20th century, you see photos and depictions of world famous people you may know.
Mahatma Gandhi
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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