Mystery Museum Tours: Sign up for a surprise; tickets available from $10

SINGAPORE - Sign up for a surprise with the Museum Roundtable's Mystery Museum Tours.

Choose a convenient date, from Sept 4 to 26, and pick one of three themes - Fashion Confessions, Mythical Creatures or Hidden Secrets.

Only after participants have booked a slot will they be told on the day of the tour which museum they will be visiting.

Fashion Confessions and Mythical Creatures, which will take in two museums each, are priced at $20 a person including guided tours and hands-on activities.

Hidden Secrets, which tours one museum, is priced at $10 a person. Each tour will be limited to 10 participants.

This is the first time museums here are trying out the mystery tour concept. The programme marks the 25th anniversary of the Roundtable, which has 62 members, 10 of which are participating in this event.

The organisation was set up in 1996 by the National Heritage Board to encourage museum-going in Singapore. A travelling exhibition about the Roundtable is also planned for November and December.

A media preview last Friday (Aug 27) offered a sneak peek at some of the tour offerings.

The Indian Heritage Centre's Mythical Creatures tour included stories about the Kirtimukha (Mask Of The Face Of Glory), a 19th-century bronze with a yali (mythical lion), and the garuda.

Docent Rama Srinivasan, 46, points out that the yali motif also appears on a 14th-century gold bracelet excavated at Fort Canning.

"Globalisation is not new. There are art and cultural exchanges between India and South-east Asia that go back 2,000 years."

At the National Gallery Singapore, docent Caroline Liew offers a lively anecdote about a time capsule buried under the foundation stone of the old Supreme Court building and a crash course on contemporary art using Matthew Ngui's Chair and Cheo Chai Hiang's 5' x 5' (Inched Deep).

Educator Dorothy Perera, 48, who took her eight-year-old twin daughters on the tour, notes that the pricing is attractive for families and foresees a lot of interest, given the upcoming school holidays.

She says the preview has piqued the family's interest in the other tours. "It's a great bonding session for the family. We are all having pandemic fatigue. The surprise element is a selling point and it's very affordably priced for a family."

What: Mystery Museum Tours

Where: Various locations

When: Sept 4 to 26,various timings

Admission: From $10 a person.

Info: Click here

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.