Ever wondered where Singapore’s national treasures (i.e. national collection) are stored? Heritage Conservation Centre (HCC) stores and preserves artifacts and artworks of 11 museums in Singapore! To date, there is nearly a whopping 400,000 historical items stored at the Heritage Conservation Centre and the collection is certainly growing.
Wondering how precious our national collection is? Think of the movie “National Treasure”’s treasure hunter Benjamin Gates played by Nicholas Cage and how he found the treasure worth a fortune, or Indiana Jones hunting for artefacts while navigating his way out of being hunted or getting trapped in traps laid by indigenous folks – the value of Singapore’s collection might not be featured in movies but definitely something worth a tiny fraction of our reserves.
The Heritage Conservation Centre is usually off limits to the public, and even has armed guards protecting it. I got the chance to join the guided tour as part of Singapore Heritagefest!
What and Where is Heritage Conservation Centre
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Located between Lakeside and Boon Lay, HCC is dedicated to preserving Singapore’s rich cultural and historical heritage. It is a centralised storage facility for artefacts and artworks for 11 museums including National Museum of Singapore, National Gallery Singapore, Singapore Art Museum, Asian Civilisations Museum, Indian Heritage Centre and many others.
Each time you step into an exhibition at any of Singapore’s museums, think of how the artefact you see was painstakingly restored and carefully kept by the 70-strong team at HCC.
The team can also be seen as the medical team giving aid to the ancient artefacts, cataloguing, cleaning, repairing and showing meticulously tender care to each item – known to tell part of Singapore’s story.
The building was purpose built in 2000, with two more levels added in 2010 to store the growing National Collection. The roof of the building has solar panels covering it to power up the amount of energy needed for the controlled environment.
Different Sections of Heritage Conservation Centre
The doors here are enormous as if fit for giants to walk through – certainly befitting of the giants of artworks and artefacts!
The custom-built steel doors, measuring 3.5m by 2.3m, are among the largest steel doors in Singapore. As you step into the hospital-like corridors, you might feel like the air is still and quite different. Given the mandate of HCC, the environment is very controlled with the temperature set at 23 degrees Celsius and humidity at 55%. The air is also filtered to keep out dust, UV and other harmful chemicals.
The walls are concrete–reinforced and aluminium–clad, for security reasons and to insulate all artefacts in the building. The building is designed with minimal windows. This also prevents sunlight from entering the building, which can harm the artefacts.
Perhaps this was the secret to longevity – I mean the life of the ancients.
As part of the guided tour, the group visited the Transit Rooms where artefacts and artworks were checked, catalogued and given RFID tags. This helps to track and document each piece since everything has to be accounted for – with yearly stock-takes done.
Then we learnt how pests are eradicated using a CAT bubble, CAT stands for Controlled Atmosphere Technology Fumigation where by all air in the bubble is removed and replaced by nitrogen when artefacts are placed in it. An alternative is to freeze the artefacts. Both methods cause pests to die then removed to prevent further spread, contamination and destruction.
We also saw the photography team took photos of each artefact and artwork. Given the varying sizes, the photographers would have to take them through the ceiling of the room at times.
One such artefact was a 30 metre scroll of Buddha’s life currently on display at Asian Civilisations Museum.
You can also view the photographs on roots.sg
Next, checking out the storage rooms was probably the highlight of the tour. At the mixed media storage room for lifestyle items, we saw retro items like television sets, old Singapore Airlines Business Class Seats, bicycles, trishaws, and were told that the table that is used for the swearing in of the nation’s President and Prime Minister was also stored at HCC.
There were special storage containers for each kind of artefact, sometimes handmade and materials like foam used to protect all of them.
Then we learnt from the conservators about conservation science on how digital microscopes are used to analyse the artefact in order to use authentic materials as closest to the original for restoration purposes.
This was definitely laborious work that goes behind the scenes at each artefact display.
One conservator at the fabrics department shared that restoration of a piece can take several hundred hours with each process documented so that others know what the exact procedure was.
We had a chance to see how fine the thread was, and even displaying the piece had to be thoroughly thought through to ensure the artefact can be properly preserved.
We ended our tour checking out the Ceramics storage room.
A good portion of it was from the Tang Shipwreck highlighting the significance of maritime trade even as early as 380 AD.
Seeing the vast collection of the national treasures does remind me of how much history we have as a nation and the many stories of our ancestors while forgotten may still be kept alive because of the artefacts.
With 40 to 50 exhibitions per year, the HCC’s work is crucial in ensuring that Singapore’s cultural heritage is preserved and showcased for future generations.
It clearly is a vital resource for Singapore’s cultural heritage, providing a safe and controlled environment for the national collection. With its state-of-the-art facilities and expert staff, the HCC plays a crucial role in preserving Singapore’s history and cultural identity for future generations.
Visiting Heritage Conservation Centre
Interested to visit HCC? You can do so as part of Singapore Heritagefest held in May annually or Singapore Art Week held every January.
Alternatively, fill in this form to organise a tour of maximum 20 people, minimum 13 years old.
