By Jessica Ye (Jessica Yap)
What do an old HDB lift, a Nanyang coffee-roasting machine and a changing Singapore skyline have in common? They are all part of the National Museum of Singapore’s newly revamped Singapore History Gallery.
Set to reopen on 10 October 2026, the gallery marks its first full revamp in 20 years, taking visitors through more than 700 years of Singapore’s history, from the 14th century right up to the present day.
The new gallery brings together a mix of historical artefacts, personal stories and interactive installations, with more attention given to the different people and communities that have shaped Singapore along the way.
One of the more unusual objects is a restored 1970s HDB lift, which looks at the huge shift from kampong living to HDB estates. It is the kind of everyday object that most of us would probably walk past without a second thought, yet it tells quite a story about how Singaporeans lived through one of the biggest changes in the country’s history.
Then there is the traditional Nanyang coffee-roasting machine from Ho Tit Coffee Powder Factory. For anyone who grew up around traditional coffee shops, the sight of one immediately feels familiar, even if we have never actually stopped to wonder how that cup of kopi came to be.
Photography also gets a place in the new gallery, with a newly commissioned time-lapse work by Singapore photographer Keith Loutit documenting more than a decade of changes to the cityscape.
The gallery itself has been developed with feedback from more than 160 members of the public, alongside 12 Singapore academics. Rather than presenting Singapore’s history through one single point of view, the revamped exhibition brings together accounts from eyewitnesses and descendants, as well as writers, artists and curators.
The journey begins with Singapore Odyssea: A Journey Through Time, which opened in 2025, before moving into the History Gallery’s chronological presentation.
There is also more to see from the 1980s onwards, with largely new content covering Singapore’s more recent decades. This brings the exhibition into a period that feels much closer to our own lives, looking at how the city has changed and how those changes continue to affect the people living in it.
And that is perhaps what makes the new additions interesting. History is usually associated with things that happened a very long time ago, but an HDB lift, a coffee machine and photographs of buildings changing around us are reminders that some of it is actually not that far away.
The reopening will also coincide with the National Museum’s 139th anniversary celebrations. From 10 to 18 October, Stories of Everyday will bring special installations, an art market, live performances and workshops to the museum, along with the unveiling of a new mascot based on an artefact from its collection.
The Singapore History Gallery will reopen to the public on 10 October 2026 at the National Museum of Singapore.
More details will be announced by the National Museum of Singapore ahead of the reopening.
