Museums are much more than about items on display these days. They are about the stories behind the things as well.
Take the $12-million boutique Peranakan Museum, which opens next Saturday in what was once the Tao Nan School in Armenian Street. Work on it started just over two years ago.
The world's most comprehensive collection of Straits Chinese, or Peranakan artefacts, it contains more than 1,200 items showcasing this unique South-east Asian culture.
The Peranakan community began with early Chinese immigrants in Malacca, Penang and Java adopting local customs and marrying local Malay women.
Peranakans, famed for sarong kebayas (embroidered blouse-and-batik ensembles), kuehs (cakes) and feisty matriarchs (bibiks), began to live a blend of Malay and Chinese lifestyles peppered with British and Dutch influences. The items on show reflect these influences and range from intricately beaded shoes to a grand wedding bed. Also on display is the largest Peranakan beadwork tablecloth, created using one million beads.
The treasures are often all the more precious for their 'True Blue' individual histories.
That is something Dr Kenson Kwok, 58, director of the Asian Civilisations Museum which is developing and operating the Peranakan Museum project, can attest to.
About 10 years ago when a visitor from Penang walked into his office asking for him, Dr Kwok almost turned her away.
'She said her mother had all these Nonya things which she wanted to give to the museum,' he says.
He adds with a laugh that he was not convinced and did not take her seriously at first.
At that time, the Asian Civilisations Museum had only a small section devoted to the Straits Chinese past.
But the woman was persistent and urged him to fly to Penang to take a look at some of the work.
'I got permission from my boss, flew down to Penang and the minute I saw the kamcheng, or covered container which the Peranakans used to store and serve food, water or pickles, I knew we had something special,' he says.
'It was so precious that I hand-carried it back to Singapore. It weighs more than 5kg and I had it on my lap all through.'
Today, the kamcheng, which dates back to the late 19th century and is worth over $100,000, occupies pride of place in the Food and Feasting Gallery of the Peranakan Museum - one of 10 themed galleries housed in the building.
These are spread over a floor area of 4,000 sq m with a display space of 1,500 sq m.
Also in the Food and Feasting gallery is a set of eight dining chairs with English-style carving which would have been done by Chinese craftsmen, and which Dr Kwok found in a junk shop toilet. 'We managed to find a full set and they were in pretty good condition,' he says.
However, the museum is not just about viewing displays, but having hands-on involvement as well. Some exhibits include interactive components. These include touchable displays at a Peranakan kitchen, wedding and beading activities and a multimedia activity where children can dress up in Peranakan costume electronically.
The museum wants to engage people of all ages.
Says curator Randall Ee, 33: 'We want people to live through those times.'
The museum's galleries range from one devoted to weddings to others that cover the process of growing up, religious beliefs, food and feasting, conversations and public life.
Visitors will get an insight into a traditional Peranakan wedding - an elaborate 12-day affair filled with rituals and ceremonies - and also of the chiu thau ceremony, a rite of purification and initiation into adulthood, for example.
A display featuring a grand wedding bed also has an interesting story behind it.
Bed where 7 babies were born
Ee explains: 'The wedding bed was donated by Mrs Quah Hong Chiam, who was a typical Nonya from Penang. The bed was a wedding gift from her father. What's interesting about it is that Mrs Quah gave birth to seven out of her 11 children on this bed. The Quah family was from Penang, but relocated to Singapore. Despite the long journey, Mrs Quah would go back to Penang to give birth on this bed.'
Other displays include splendid Peranakan-style furniture, embroidery works and bridal jewellery.
As Peranakan culture is closely associated with food, there is also a room that relives the entire dining experience through an extensive display of tableware and cutlery.
There are also two shops at the entrance of the museum selling Peranakan-themed merchandise like tea-sets, beaded shoes and handmade apparel and accessories.
The museum site itself is steeped in Peranakan history.
Dr Kwok, referring to the fact that the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) was housed on the site for a while, notes: 'We started here in 1997. And call it providential, but prominent Peranakans played a key role in setting up the Tao Nan School building, which is what this was before it became the museum. One of them was the late Indonesian Peranakan tycoon, Sugar King Oei Tiong Ham, who donated $10,000 towards this land purchase.'
Things Peranakan certainly seem to be in flavour right now. A three-storey terrace Baba House at 157 Neil Road that was built in the 1860s is being restored and turned into a haven of Peranakan heritage by the National University of Singapore. It is due to open in July.
Commenting on the 'Baba' boom, Associate Professor John Miksic, 61, from the National University of Singapore's South-east Studies Institute, says: 'I am very glad we are going to have a museum dedicated to the Peranakans again. In the past we have seen it in several forms, on Emerald Hill as part of the ACM, but now there is a comprehensive collection.
'The idea of a hybrid culture which has a deep historical identity will appeal to not just Singaporeans but other visitors, too.'
