from Radio Singapore International -
Heritage Conservation Centre
go to programme notes
go to MP3 (2.29 Mb)

A nice (audio) overview of the work that goes on behind the scene.
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s/pores: New Directions in Singapore Studies
go to online journal

Citizen Historian: The Unrewarded Amateur Conscience
go to online journal

Archives & Social Studies: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research
go to online journal

Beginning Preservation: A forum for discussing preservation and conservation
go to weblog

Added several links on the sidebar which point to online journals and weblog that may be of interest.
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from yesterday.sg -
Panel discussion about heritage on Radio Singapore International
go to web-post

A couple of recent radio interviews related to museums in Singapore. It may be the sign of the times that museums are now "officially" a life-style centre. Whose life-style was that again? And are we in danger of confusing the means with the end?
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from yesterday.sg

A slew of interesting posts in the past weeks which looked back on various familiar places in Singapore:

shots@ bonham hill (view from Fort Canning Hill)
Beauty World
Lorong Chuan
Bishan Two Zero

Enjoy!

from ashpanda
Save Palmer Road
go to blog post
go to "Save Palmer Road" web-site

A worthy local effort to raise awareness and preserve the dwindling historic areas still standing in present-day Singapore. Also see previous post here.

[ Thanks to yesterday.sg and Singapore Heritage List for the alert ]

Singapore Heritage Mailing List
go to web-page

Re-posting the following announcement and would like to encourage readers of this weblog to join in the diverse and insightful discussions over at the mailing list.

On 10/10/06 12:18 PM, "Chua Ai Lin" wrote:

Dear list members,

Today is the 6th anniversary of the Singapore Heritage Yahoogroup!

At this point last year, there were 267 registered subscribers, and now we have 461. In the past year, the number of postings each month have varied between 121 and 276.

If you have friends who would like to join the list too, do tell them that one does not need a Yahoo email address to receive messages, simply send a blank email to:
singaporeheritage-subscribe[at]yahoogroups.com

It's great to see more and more of you sharing on the list, and here's to more interesting discussions in the coming year!

--Ai Lin
Sg-Heritage Yahoogroup moderator

from BBC News
Singapore war internee's art on show
go to article

An article on BBC News about some recently donated watercolurs displayed at the Changi Museum (see museum wesite and previous post).

[ Thanks to Singapore Heritage Mailing List ]

from wikimapia
National Monuments of Singapore

Following on from an earlier post, I have finished marking-up all the locations of gazetted national monuments in Singapore for a start.




A close-up of the city centre area, which has the majority of the gazetted monuments:



Point and click on a location, and then click the "info" button to get links to more information and images, where available online.

Next in line will be various conservation areas and also locations which have some historic significance. As the wikimapia interface is very much a collaborative one, do add on information and locations where possible.

Also, I have tagged locations on wikimapia with a general tag: "heritage", and will also be using other more specific ones such as: "monument", "museum", "conservation_area" etc.

You can change markers on the map via the drop-down menu for filtering by tags at the top-right of the map window - or leave it unfiltered to get an overwhelming sense of details!

Have a browse round and leave your comments or feedback here ...

Seletar Airbase Project
go to weblog

A highly commendable project to document a historic part of Singapore that has to make way for "progress". Perhaps loosing physical markers of one's past and memories is the price one pays for growing up in Singapore - or does it have to be that way?

[ Thanks to yesterday.sg for the link ]

Save Our Chinese Heritage
go to web-site

A recently launched initiative to document historic Chinese architecture in Singapore by means of digital images.

[Thanks to the Singapore Heritage Mailing List and yesterday.sg for the heads-up!]

from Southeast Asian Archaeology
Palmer Road Wang Hai Da Bo Gong Temple
go to update
go to site report (3.46 MB, PDF)

An update to the archaeological dig at an unassuming historical site, which might even pre-date the arrival of Stanford Raffles in Singapore, tucked away at one end of Keppel Road. See satellite map of the area with the temple centered in the map.

Thanks to Lim Chen Shien for first news of the update on the Singapore Heritage Mailing List.

from Southeast Asian Archaeology
Fort Tanjong Katong
go to update (scroll down)
go to preliminary site report (2.27 MB, PDF)

An update on the popular archaeological dig (see previous posts here and here) which has confirmed the existence of a fort beneath the present-day park and also discovered several other features of the fort which were otherwise undocumented. Due to uncertainty on the next phase of the project, the team has decided to back-fill the exposed site in order to protect the archaeological finds, and await further development.

There is also a link to a previous architectural student project (397 KB, PDF) at NUS on "Exhibition of Design Ideas for an Interpretive Center at Katong Park" (8th January 2006).

For those not familiar with the location of the dig, here is a link to a satellite map of the area with the park in the centre.

Thanks to Lim Chen Shien and Chua Ai Lin for first news of the updates on the Singapore Heritage Mailing List.

from yesterday.sg
Conservation in Progress
go to weblog post

A belated link to a couple of on-going conservation projects at the Heritage Conservation Centre. There is also information on other current research projects.

from Otterman speaks...
Yesterday.sg Meetup No. 2
go to weblog entry

An update on the various progress and developments with the weblog on heritage matters in Singapore previously (see previous post).

Particularly interesting is a report done for a school project by 3 students from Raffles Girls' Secondary on Kampong Buangkok and ideas about its preservation.

Yesterday.sg
go to weblog

There is a recently re-launched weblog initiated by the National Heritage Board for all things related to cultural heritage and history of Singapore. (Apologies for the delay in picking this up and many thanks to the Singapore Heritage group for "leaking" this earlier here and here.)

With the revamp, the focus has shifted to a more inclusive perspective on other heritage related posts written by non-NHB staff - all in all, a welcomed transformation from its earlier incarnation as Heritage SG. This can only be a positive step forward. Well-deserved kudos to all involved!

from themediaslut
Life in Singapore under Japanese Occupation
go to blog post

A weblog post, with images, on the opening of the newest addition to the family of museums in Singapore - Memories at old Ford Factory. [ thanks to Ai Lin on the Singapore Heritage mailing list]

Additional information can be found on the National Archives of Singapore web-site and press-release [PDF format].

NHB Heritage Journal (Vol. 2, 2005)
go to table of contents

From the most recent issue of the NHB Heritage Journal:

Articles

Films as Social History - P. Ramlee's "Seniman Bujang Lapok" and Malays in Singapore (1950s-60s)
Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied
Abstract / PDF

"Fragments of the Past": Political Prints of Post-war Singapore
Lim Cheng Tju
Abstract / PDF

Notes and reviews

Iberians in Singapore-Melaka Area and Adjacent Regions, by Peter Borschberg
Reviewed by Yong Huei Sim
Abstract / PDF

Framing History: Displaying the Singapore Family through Photography
Jason Toh
Abstract / PDF

Singapore Updates
A couple of updates, if you have not already come across them:

The Changi Museum Revamped
go to weblog posting
With the most recent renovation completed to coincided with the slew of programmes marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, the museum has added several new artefacts and storyboards.

Southeast Asian Archaeology
go to news page
An update of the site with additional pages of information in and around Singapore.

from The Telegraph
£600m sale ruffles the famed calm of Raffles
go to article

When does heritage ends and business begins - and vice versa?

from Channel News Asia
Asian Film Archive aims to preserve regional films
go to article

from Today
Group to archive Singapore films
go to article

Further update on the launch of the Reel Emergency Project initiative by the Asian Film Archive. The privately-funded initiative to archive made-in-Singapore and Asian films was previously noted in an earlier post here. Now, the National Archives of Singapore has come on board with help in film restoration and preservation expertise.

from The Business Times
S'pore, HK in running for US$250m
Guggenheim
go to article

from The New York Times
A Museum Visionary Envisions More
go to article

from The Business Times
IR bidder offers S'pore redux
go to article (PDF format)

from Today
museums, ad nauseum?
go to article

Piecing together a few seemingly unrelated recent news articles and a less than rosy picture emerges regarding the state of museum development here in Singapore. When the likes of the Guggenheim juggernaut is being touted as a key player in the proposed integrated resort concept in presenting a (Asian) cultural face, something must be amissed.

Have our cultural and heritage institutions been totally ineffective or lacking in ambition (and vision) in creating world-class museums - and not only that - but that which Singaporeans would be decidedly proud of? The (possible) coming of Singapore's own version of the "Bilbao effect" - and the tacit admission that home-grown efforts in cultural heritage in Singapore is still pretty much considered a backwater - can only serve as a wake-up call, if nothing else.

from Southeast Asian Archaeology
Fort Tanjong Katong
go to website

With the end of the first phase of the archaeological dig at Tanjong Katong Park for the remnants of a demolished fort, a progress report (PDF format) had been posted. There is also a photo gallery besides other online resources.

from The Business Times
Balancing Singapore's diverse urban planning needs
go to article (PDF version)

An overview on the underlying premise of urban development policy in Singapore. Midway in the article in discussing urban conservation, it is interesting to read that:

"We take a more pragmatic approach. Conservation isn't necessarily just about keeping the old buildings and old trades. I think conservation is recognising the built heritage that you have. But it's also about recognising that the world changes and you need to adapt, you need to allow adaptive re-use of these buildings for good economic uses and good social uses. Things cannot freeze in time,"

Mitigating the needs of urban expansion and renewal on the one hand, and that of preservation of the urban fabric on the other, would not normally be considered an easy task, and rightly so. However, it should also be pointed out that conflating two such divergent and opposing functions under the same authority would appear to set the stage (unintentionally, perhaps) for a potential conflict of interests.

from The Straits Times
Heritage roads
go to article (PDF format)

Introducing a sub-discipline in heritage conservation - for the conservator with green fingers, or for the horticulturalist with a historic bend.

from Today
Film buffs to the rescue
go to article
(PDF version here and here)

Definitely a noteworthy development within the larger picture of heritage preservation in Singapore. It is always an encouraging sign when preservation efforts moved beyond the walls and confines of museums. For the yet-to-be-set-up Asian Film Archive - which is to be a private enterprise - the government agencies identified as being critical to its mission (perhaps from a funding perspective) are the Media Development Authority (MDA) and the Film Commission.

from Radio Singapore International
Touring the Lion-City : Heritage Conservation Centre
go to programme notes - Part 1 and Part 2 (in Chinese)
go to recordings - Part 1 and Part 2 (in Mandarin)

Two short radio programme in Mandarin featuring the work behind the scenes at the Heritage Conservation Centre.

from The Straits Times
Parts of Changi Prison 'exported'
go to article (PDF format)

Introducing a "new concept" in the preservation of monuments - the distributed site, with original components disbursed across the oceans and seas. To say that it is indeed a strange concept would be understating the case, obviously. It makes one wonder what exactly had been promised and agreed away from public eyes. Or perhaps the historical significance of Changi Prison is not considered "Singaporean" enough to remain intact here?

from Singapore Heritage Mailing List
Fort Tanjong Katong Dig Call For Volunteers
go to e-mail call (PDF format)

A call for volunteers for a new archaeological dig at Katong Park (see map), which is seeking evidence of Tanjong Katong Fort. Some early pictures (here and here) of the park found on the National Archives of Singapore PICAS database.

This dig follows on from the earlier dig at St. Andrew's Cathedral. A (PDF format) report of that earlier dig can be found on NUS Asian Research Institute web-site.

Please pass the word around!

Singapore Stuff
go to weblog

A new weblog which has posts that link to various online resources about the history and culture of Singapore and the region. Well worth a browse! A link to the weblog has also been added to the sidebar of this weblog.

from The Straits Times
A touch of old Kampong Glamour
go to article (PDF format)

An update on the soon-to-be completed Malay Heritage Centre, and with it bringing back a sense of place to an urban community which had continually faced the twin pressures of infrastructure development and displacement.

from Channel News Asia
Singapore's Heritage Conservation Centre carving a niche for itself

For those who missed the news section on Channel News Asia, here is the transcript (in PDF format).

from National Heritage Board
The Heritage Journal
go to journal site

The Inaugural Issue of the Heritage Journal (published by the National Heritage Board, Singapore) has been launched, featuring "research articles on the history, culture and the art practices of Asia, with an emphasis on material culture, cultural resource management and museum practice". Happy reading!

from ST Recruit
For art's sake
go to article

An earlier article focusing on two jobs, amongst others, at the Heritage Conservation Centre. And for the record:

"Every day is exciting. Every problem is different. The approach and decision-making process are different. That is what keeps us going. It can be quite laborious but we are not doing this for ourselves, or even for the museums. It's for future generations."

from The Straits Times
Past It Forward
go to article
go to article (with images; in pdf format)

An article featuring fellow colleagues at the National Heritage Board and their work.

from The Straits Times
Parts of Changi Prison to be preserved
go to article
go to press release

This partial reversal of an earlier decision to demolish the entire old Changi Prison complex is surely a piece of encouraging news. However, it does raise the question of how much can be construed (or misconstrued) from a fragment of the whole? Perhaps, only time will tell.