17/12/2015

10 things you didn't know about National Gallery

  1. The dome that sits on top of the former Supreme Court was originally copper-coloured.
  2. Singapore-based Italian architect and sculptor Cavaliere Rudolfo Nolli was responsible for supplying the rows of Corinthian columns at the former City Hall Building.
  3. There is a smaller dome inside the former Supreme Court.
  4. The atrium of the Gallery was previously an open-air carpark between the former Supreme Court and City Hall.
  5. There are still two Supreme Court holding cells preserved from the original 12.
  6. Singapore's founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew was sworn into office on June 5, 1959 in the City Hall Chamber.
  7. There is a time capsule buried under the foundation stone of the former Supreme Court Building.
  8. The painting, Drying Salted Fish, by Nanyang artist Cheong Soo Pieng, at the DBS Singapore Gallery, is one of the images on the back of the $50 note.
  9. The painting, Kampong Kuchan (Lorong 3, Geylang), by artist Suri Mohyani at the DBS Singapore Gallery, shows what it was like in 1950s Geylang.
  10. Inspired by a Bali expedition in 1952, four artists - Liu Kang, Chen Wen Hsi, Chen Chong Swee and Cheong Soo Pieng - made art using fresh approaches and new subject matters.
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