.png){kind=small}
Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum has always been a source of rich history with more than thousands of natural history specimens from Singapore. To commemorate the Singapore Bicentennial, the team at LKCNHM pays tribute to Singapore’s Natural Heritage by identifying 200 defining points in Singapore’s nature with contribution from Sir Stamford Raffles and William Farquhar to Tan Kah Kee and Lim Boon Keng and the many natural historians who added to the collection.
The 200 points in Natural History is organised into 18 Parts with themes like Museums and the Metropole and Raffles becomes National. These are arranged in a chronological order in the exhibition space but visitors are free to go to the sections that interest them most. Each point comes with a short description, often accompanied by a picture, photo or actual specimen.
In the centre of the exhibition is the Tapir Tree where visitors are invited to draw their own version of the Malayan Tapir.
The Malayan Tapir is also a muse in this exhibition where visitors are drawn into the politics involved in its naming and identification, involving, the French, Dutch, British and even Chinese. This goes to show that natural history is not just about studying of specimens but it is a field that is much alive and can bring insights into the development of ourselves and our nation.
“All things are changing, nothing dies… the Spirit wanders, comes now and here, now there, and occupies whatever frame it pleases… But never perishes” - Pythagoras
Join us on 8 October for a special Educator’s Preview at Lee Kong Chian Natural History Musuem.
The exhibition 200: a natural history is on-going from now until Jun 2020.