ArtScience Museum is a museum within the integrated resort of

Marina Bay Sands Marina Bay Sands (abbreviation: MBS) is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay in Singapore. The resort is owned by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation and at its opening in 2010, it was deemed the world's most expensive standalone casino prop ...

in the

Downtown Core The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with many integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive build ...

of the Central Area in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Opened on 17 February 2011 by Singapore's Prime Minister

Lee Hsien Loong Lee Hsien Loong (; born 10 February 1952) is a Singaporean politician and former brigadier-general who has been serving as Prime Minister of Singapore and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party since 2004. He has been the Member of Par ...

, it is the world's first ArtScience museum, featuring major exhibitions that blend art, science, culture and technology. Although a permanent exhibition at the ArtScience Gallery has been planned, the Museum mainly hosts touring exhibitions curated by other museums.

Architecture

The architecture is said to be a form reminiscent of a

lotus flower ''Nelumbo nucifera'', also known as sacred lotus, Laxmi lotus, Indian lotus, or simply lotus, is one of two extant species of aquatic plant in the family Nelumbonaceae. It is sometimes colloquially called a water lily, though this more often ref ...

. It is designed by

Moshe Safdie Moshe Safdie ( he, משה ספדיה; born July 14, 1938) is an architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author, with Israeli, Canadian, and American citizenship. He is known for incorporating principles of socially responsible desi ...

. Referred to as "The Welcoming Hand of Singapore" by

Las Vegas Sands Las Vegas Sands Corporation is an American casino and resort company with corporate headquarters in Paradise, Nevada, United States. Its corporate mission is to create "Integrated Resorts" which feature a combination of gambling, accommodation, ...

chairman

Sheldon Adelson Sheldon Gary Adelson (; August 4, 1933 – January 11, 2021) was an American businessman, investor, political donor and philanthropist. He was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which owns th ...

, the ArtScience Museum is anchored by a round base in the middle, with ten extensions referred to as "fingers". The design concept for each finger denotes various gallery spaces sporting skylights at the "fingertips", which are included as sustainable illumination for the curved interior walls. File:Art Science From Above (215599371).jpeg, Aerial view of ArtScience Museum File:Singapore Art Science Museum.jpg, Night view of Singapore Art Science Museum, February 2019 File:Marina Bay Sands at twilight (6810544192).jpg, ArtScience Museum at twilight File:ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore - 20110226-08.jpg, A night view of the museum photographed in February 2011 File:ArtScience Museum 2.jpg, View from below

Gallery spaces

The ArtScience Museum has 21 gallery spaces with a total area of 64,583 square feet (6,000 square meters).

Sustainability features

Rainwater is harvested and channelled down the centre of the building, flowing through its bowl-shaped roof into a reflecting pond at the lowest level of the building. The rainwater is then recycled for use in the building's restrooms.

Exhibitions

Permanent exhibition

Since Future World there is no permanent exhibition.

Touring exhibitions

Some of the touring exhibitions at the ArtScience Museum include:

Feature exhibitions

The ArtScience Museum features gallery spaces totalling 50,000 square feet (6,000 square meters) for exhibits from combined art/science, media/technology, as well as design/architecture motifs. Permanent exhibits include objects indicative of the accomplishments of both the arts and the sciences through the ages, along the lines of

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

's Flying Machine, a Kongming Lantern, and a high-tech robotic fish. The museum opened with an exhibition of a collection of the

Belitung shipwreck The Belitung shipwreck (also called the Tang shipwreck or Batu Hitam shipwreck) is the wreck of an Arabian dhow which sank around 830 AD. The ship completed the outward journey from Arabia to China, but sank on the return journey from China, app ...

cargo, and Tang dynasty treasures that were discovered and preserved by Tilman Walterfang of Seabed Explorations NZ Ltd.

Belitung shipwreck treasure

Tilman Walterfang and his team found the Tang dynasty artifacts in the

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in 1998 among the

, a large 9th-century Arabian dhow that sunk around 830 AD. For the next six years, they were desalinated, conserved and researched by his company Seabed Explorations Ltd in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. They were eventually purchased for around 32 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

. An accurate reproduction of the Arab dhow ship, named The

Jewel of Muscat The ''Jewel of Muscat'' is a ship based on the design of the Belitung shipwreck, an Arabian dhow that was found off the coast of Belitung Island, Indonesia, in 1998 and subsequently salvaged. It was built in a joint effort by the governments of O ...

, was presented by the

Sultanate of Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

to the government and people of Singapore. The items in the collection on tour accurately reflects the assortment and magnitude of the find and its global inter-cultural significance; this is the single largest consignment of

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

export goods ever discovered. The find includes some of the oldest cobalt-blue-and-white ceramics made in China, several gold items made with Arabic designs and

swastikas The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...

, jars filled with spices and incense resins, bronze mirrors, thousands of glazed bowls, ewers and other fine ceramics, as well as lead ingots. The

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