This place really tickled my fancy.
Being a person who loves history, I was so drawn to this place, so much so that I skipped the main attraction of the building - which is the Singapore National Gallery. What has happened is that one wing of the old Supreme Court building has now been converted to the National Gallery, holding various art collections from Singapore and Southeast Asia, while the other wing has been left intact (actually, even most sections of that have been converted to art galleries) for visitors to study how the old Supreme Court of Singapore was like. This stunning and historic building's construction began in 1926, and it is within its walls that famous cases like the surrender of the Japanese troops, marking the end of the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, were trailed. Before I begin proper, this is a photo of the colossal building itself.
Being a person who loves history, I was so drawn to this place, so much so that I skipped the main attraction of the building - which is the Singapore National Gallery. What has happened is that one wing of the old Supreme Court building has now been converted to the National Gallery, holding various art collections from Singapore and Southeast Asia, while the other wing has been left intact (actually, even most sections of that have been converted to art galleries) for visitors to study how the old Supreme Court of Singapore was like. This stunning and historic building's construction began in 1926, and it is within its walls that famous cases like the surrender of the Japanese troops, marking the end of the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, were trailed. Before I begin proper, this is a photo of the colossal building itself.
So the left part with a colonial-style dome is the main building of the Supreme Court, called the Supreme Court wing, largely left intact. The other part with the corinthian columns is now called the City Hall wing, where the National Gallery is.
These are some images to help you get a general idea of the place. The walkways of the Old Supreme Court were indeed grand.
These are some images to help you get a general idea of the place. The walkways of the Old Supreme Court were indeed grand.
The Supreme Court wing is five floors high, and I came downwards from the fifth floor, because I took a link bridge from the City Hall wing. We see something called the Supreme Court terrace. I think this was where members of the public could sit and watch during court hearings. In the centre, there is a round dome-shaped structure called the Rotunda. It served as a library. In the image to the right shows how it looks like inside the Rotunda.
Now let's get on to the real stuff. The Supreme Court has been preserved, but in a museum-like manner. For example, the Judge's desk and chair are themselves an exhibit, and important documents like the signing of Singapore's separation from Malaysia are kept in glass boxes for us to survey. In the old Supreme Court, there were four courtrooms, and currently all four of them are art galleries featuring paintings from Asia and Europe. There are 6 more art galleries built in this manner within the Supreme Court wing. Below are the images of the Judge's furniture, and the document that proclaimed the separation of Singapore from Malaysia.
Next, these are the images of the courtrooms themselves. Above all the paintings, we can see the architecture of the courtroom. The rectangular podium was where the lawyers, witnesses and accused stood, and the semicircular recess was where the Judge sat during the trails. In the above galleries, the public could sit.
Interestingly, in one of the courtrooms I saw this, which was a trapdoor from where the accused who were kept in holding cells in the floor below could come up to the courtroom.
Imagine having been able to be present during one of these trials! If all these isn't cool enough, I went to have a look at the holding rooms. They resemble plain prison cells, with a narrow bench along one wall and a small squat toilet at another corner. Another interesting feature was that the flushes for the toilet was actually located outside the cells, as seen in the images, so that the accused wouldn't harm themselves with the cord of the flush while trails were happening.
To end it off, I must mention that there is a time capsule buried 195 feet below the old Supreme Court. This is to be opened in the year 3000. It contains some coins and newspapers from the year 1937, and the plaque will serve to remind the people of 3000 that there is some archaeological treasure under their feet.
That's about it!
July 2017