Getting lost at National Gallery Singapore: An ideal place for art lovers

Located between two of the most important buildings of the country: Supreme Court and City Hall, Singapore National Gallery is not only the biggest gallery in Singapore, but also in the Southeast Asia. Being displayed in this museum are approximately 8,000 works about art, fashion, architecture, history, books and photography, from the National Collection, which makes it become one of the biggest and most valuable collection about contemporary art of Singapore and Southeast Asia since the 19th century. When entering the gallery, the first thing that impresses on your mind would be the architecture of the building. The gallery is constructed in the style that can be easily found in some European country, with splendid glass dome and luxurious wooden floor. When being looked from outside, it is an old building with grey colour, making it looks like it has been tinged with time. Inside the gallery, there is an enormous area for lightwell, which allows light to flow into the room. Passing the ticket counter, you will enter "Living pictures: Photography in Southeast Asia", a room to display photo about daily life of people coming from everywhere in Southeast Asia. The most gorgeous part of the gallery is the staircase connecting the first floor with the second floor, where hundreds of pictures have been taken by young people. Another special thing about this staircase is that it is not only beautiful, but also comfortable as most steps are equipped with mattres that allow visitors to sit and enjoy the artistic area of the gallery.

The second and third floors are both art and photography gallery. There are some artworks which can be called masterpieces, most of which are produced by well-known artists. However, the one thing that you need to remember when enjoying those works is that there are some of them you are not allowed to take a photo (I guess it is because of the copyright issue), so, remember to ask the gallery staffs carefully to make sure that what you have taken are totally legal. There is also a display of postcard from everywhere in Southeast Asia, with handwriting inside, some I can read, some I can't even understand. When reading those postcards, I wonder who the people on the photo were, what they did, and in what circumstances that they had to leave their families and friends, because of war, for business, or there were another reasons? Moreover, if you are a postcard lover and wish to take one postcard from the gallery for your collection, there are also another area to display postcards for sell with only $1 for each.

On the fourth floor is architecture display, which shows work of a famous architecture, and in this place, you can see the first design of some famous building in the country, such as the Supreme Court, National Museum, and City Hall.

However, my favourite part is in the fifth floor, which is a rooftop garden for visitors to breathe the fresh air after visiting the gallery. Located in the garden is a small restaurant in case you feel hungry after the whole morning wandering here, and a big studio for art lovers. I love sitting besides the fountain, enjoying the fresh air, looking at the blue sky, and feeling overwhelmed with the skycrapers surrounding the building.

There is also a place for children on the basement floor, so don't worry if you want to take your children with you to the gallery but don't want them to bother you enjoying the artwork.

For me, this gallery is a must-going place for artlovers.