Asian Civilisations Museum - The Old Government Offices

Photo: GoAheadFan95, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

A stop on Singapore: Marina Bay to Chinatown, a free self-guided tour.

At the north end of the bridge stands a long, cream-colored colonial building with deep verandas. Convicts built its first section between 1864 and 1867, to designs by the colonial engineer J. F. A. McNair. It was meant to be a courthouse, but it became the Government Offices instead, and grew in stages until 1920. The square in front was named Empress Place in 1907, in honor of Queen Victoria, Empress of India, and the building took the name.

Until the late 1980s, many Singaporeans came here to register births and deaths, apply for citizenship and deal with immigration - a building where a new nation's paperwork happened. Since 2003 it has been home to the Asian Civilisations Museum, which tells the story of the many cultures that met along trade routes like this river.

You can admire it from outside, but if the heat gets to you, the museum makes a fine cool break.

Getting here: Cross to the north end of Cavenagh Bridge; the museum is directly ahead and to your left along the riverside.

Did you know?: The museum holds the cargo of the Tang Shipwreck, a 9th-century Arab-style vessel found off Indonesia, including more than 60,000 Tang dynasty ceramics - proof that Asia's sea trade was busy over a thousand years ago.

Photo op: Walk a few steps along the riverside path and look back: the museum's white facade and Cavenagh Bridge line up with the Fullerton beyond.

More on Wikipedia: Asian Civilisations Museum · Empress Place Building · Queen Victoria

Asian Civilisations Museum - The Old Government Offices

Stops on this tour