“After a Four-Year Closure, Has the Peranakan Museum Lost Its Crowd?”
By: Victoria Leong
Singapore’s Peranakan Museum reopened in 2023 after a four-year redevelopment — but visitor numbers still lag far behind its pre-closure peak. This story examines why, and whether the museum can win back its audience.
When the Peranakan Museum welcomed the public again on 17 February 2023, it marked the end of nearly four years of renovation. The refreshed museum, housed in the historic former Tao Nan School on Armenian Street, re-entered Singapore’s cultural landscape with renewed ambition.
According to the National Heritage Board (NHB), the museum offers “brand-new permanent galleries presenting exceptional objects from Peranakan material culture,” The museum spans three floors exploring “origins, home, and style as aspects of identity.” NHB also notes that a significant curatorial shift was made to include “works of contemporary art, fashion, design and craft… inserted into every gallery,” reflecting modern expressions of Peranakan identity. The aim, NHB writes, is to encourage visitors to reflect on the question: “What is Peranakan?”
However, visitor numbers suggest the road to recovery is only partial.
According to SINGSTAT, in its first year after reopening, the museum recorded 164,600 in-person visitors (2023), rising slightly to 167,400 in 2024. These figures fall short of pre-closure levels, when annual attendance regularly exceeded 370,000 and peaked at 508,300 in 2016.https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/26674419/
The gap raises a pressing question: why hasn’t the renovation translated into renewed interest?
For visitors such as 18‑year-old student Vereen Thng — returning after the renovation — the ambience stood out: “the lighting is brighter … the colours on the kebayas and beadwork are way more vibrant”. But she still felt something was missing: a tangible connection to the culture, or a reason to stay beyond the exhibits.
Heritage blogger, Jerome Lim, 60, who runs the site The Long and Winding Road, attributes the stagnation to shifts in museum-going habits. “There’s a lot more emphasis on programming, meaning you have events, you have pop-ups, things to draw in the crowd, rather than the genuine museum visitors.”
Mr. Lim said, contrasting the museum with more immersive cultural experiences in Joo Chiat or private institutions like The Intan, which provide a fuller, curated engagement.
To reclaim its audience, Mr. Lim argues that the museum must bring the culture to life within its walls: “They need to bring in more of the living examples of the culture… have more activities, more cooking demo and get the children immersed in it.”
He notes the advantage of location, such as the Indian Heritage Centre which benefits from being situated in an active cultural hub, whereas the Peranakan Museum is “tucked away … from the so-called traditional hotspots of Peranakan culture,” He adds that being closer to the “heart of activity” could help spark greater interest and engagement with the culture.
Similarly, Vereen Thng suggests the museum could offer more hands-on experiences, like painting batik or experimenting with beadwork, and the usage of technologies such as QR codes for VR or 3D models.
Ultimately, the museum’s challenge is to capture the attention of a generation whose cultural consumption habits have shifted.