Our history

The Museum’s roots can be traced back to 1955, when the University Art Museum was established at the University of Malaya. Under the direction of Michael Sullivan, the Museum’s first curator (1954-1960), the collection was instrumental to the teaching and study of Art History at the University.

Established before Singapore’s independence in 1965, NUS Museum may be regarded as a prototypical museum institution; its historical trajectory mirroring significant periods in the history of Singapore and the University in its search to reflect Malayan or national identity within the context of its geography and inter-cultural encounters.

Over the decades, the Museum’s collections came to be located in various settings within the University campus and beyond. In 2000, a permanent home was established with the opening of the University Cultural Centre, with the Museum’s three permanent collections moving to this dedicated facility in 2002.

NUS Museum also manages the NUS Baba House located at 157 Neil Road. One of the last surviving Straits Chinese houses in Singapore, it was opened in September 2008 after comprehensive research and restoration work, delivered in partnership with the NUS Department of Architecture and the Urban Redevelopment Authority. Once the ancestral home of the Peranakan Wee family who descended from shipping merchant Wee Bin, the house was acquired with funds donated by the late Ms Agnes Tan in memory of her late father Tun Tan Cheng Lock who was himself a prominent Peranakan businessman and community leader. Since then, the House has continued its efforts in encouraging the appreciation of and research into Straits Chinese history, identity, iconography and architecture.

Today, NUS Museum has over 8,000 artefacts and artworks across four collections, the South & Southeast Asian Collection, the Lee Kong Chian Collection, the Ng Eng Teng Collection and the Straits Chinese Collection, located at the NUS Baba House.

Timeline

1955 The University of Malaya Art Museum, Singapore’s first art museum, opens with its first curator, Michael Sullivan (1916-2013). It would later seed NUS Museum’s South and Southeast Asian Collection.
1963 William Willetts (1918-1995) succeeds Michael Sullivan as the second curator for the University Art Museum, establishing Southeast Asian ceramics as a field of study and highlighting materials that were previously unknown in the art world.
1973 University of Malaya Art Museum closed. Collection moved temporarily to the National Museum of Singapore.
1980 Nanyang University and University of Singapore merge to form the National University of Singapore (NUS). The Lee Kong Chian Museum, comprising mostly Chinese art is transferred to NUS.
1980s-1990s The University of Malaya Art Museum collection is brought back from the National Museum of Singapore to NUS but remains in storage.
1997 Noted Singapore artist Ng Eng Teng (1934-2001) makes the first of three major donations of his work to NUS Museums. These are displayed at the NUS Central Library.
2000 The University Cultural Centre (UCC) is officially opened by then Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam.
2002 Ng Eng Teng’s estate donates more than a thousand works to the University.

NUS Museums opens at UCC, comprising the collections from the Lee Kong Chian Museum, University of Malaya Art Museum and Ng Eng Teng donations.
2004 NUS Museums becomes a department of NUS Centre For the Arts.
2006 NUS Museums is renamed NUS Museum.
2008 NUS Baba House opens under the management of NUS Museum, and with it, the Straits Chinese Collection.
2016 NUS Museum wins inaugural UMAC award for innovative museological practice.
2023 NUS Museum is reorganised into an independent University Department, under the leadership of a University Curator.