From 18 November 2026, Singaporeans and Permanent Residents (PRs) can walk into the newly named Hinrich Foundation Trade Gallery at the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) without paying a cent. The Level 1 gallery is the museum’s existing Maritime Trade Gallery with a new name, and the S$5 million gift behind it will fund refreshed displays and a deeper look at Singapore’s early history from 2027.
Same Room, Bigger Story
The basic idea of the gallery stays the same. According to ACM, it explores how trade drove cultural exchange through the movement of goods, people, ideas, and beliefs. It also presents Singapore as an Asian port city and a global crossroads, connecting cultures across Asia and beyond.
That framing matters because it describes the place you live. The kopi you order, the languages you hear on the MRT and the mix of festivals on your calendar all trace back to this island being a stop on someone’s trading route. A gallery built around that idea is effectively a backstory for your own city, and it costs locals nothing to see it.
ACM has been telling this kind of story for a long time. The museum opened in 1997, and it has been in its current building by the Singapore River since 2003. It traces its roots to the Raffles Museum, founded in the middle of the 19th century. Maritime Trade is one of its four main themes, alongside Faith and Belief, Materials and Design, and Peranakan art and culture.
Where the S$5 Million Goes
The money comes from the Hinrich Foundation, an Asia-based philanthropic organisation that works to advance sustainable global trade. ACM says the naming gift will fund a phased programme to strengthen its collection development and public education, with support for new acquisitions, refreshed displays, interactive features, and public programmes that bring these stories to wider audiences.
For regular visitors, the interactive features and the public programmes are the parts most likely to change a Saturday afternoon. New acquisitions take time to surface, but a hands-on display or a talk you can sign up for gives you a reason to return to a gallery you may have walked past before.
The foundation’s own description of its mission is direct. It aims to strengthen the global trading system by championing mutually beneficial and sustainable trade, opposing protectionism and the weaponisation of trade, and supporting multilateral and regional trade frameworks. In other words, a museum gallery about centuries of people swapping goods across borders fits its purpose well.
The 2027 Refresh Worth Waiting For
The renaming is the headline, but the Singapore Archaeology section is the update to keep an eye on. ACM plans to refresh it in 2027, after the gallery’s unveiling, and says the refresh will bring “greater depth to the story of Singapore’s early history.”
Most of us learned our island’s history from a textbook that started in 1819. A dedicated push on the archaeology that came before is the part of this programme that could change how you picture Singapore, which makes it the one to put in your calendar.
Quotes
Clement Onn, Director of ACM and the Peranakan Museum, called trade “central to Singapore’s history, connecting people and cultures across Asia and beyond.” He added: “As ACM approaches its 30th anniversary in 2027, this partnership will help us continue telling meaningful stories about exchange, encounter, and the connections that have shaped Singapore and Asia.”
Merle Hinrich, Chairman of the Hinrich Foundation, said: “We hope to preserve Singapore’s trading history and stories of its connectedness to the world.” He tied the gallery to current events, saying that “at a time of rising geopolitical tension and shifting global trade dynamics, the gallery invites visitors to reflect on how trade has connected societies throughout history.”
That second quote stands out. Trade is in the news at the moment, and a gallery about the long history of open ports makes a calmer place to think about it than a comment section.
The gallery’s unveiling also marks the start of the Hinrich Foundation’s 15th anniversary celebrations. Those began in October with the launch of the NUS Business School’s Global Trade Leaders Scholarship programme of S$750,000, supported by the Hinrich Foundation and Shanghai Baolong Automotive Corporation. The foundation released Merle Hinrich’s authorised biography, Architect of Opportunity: Merle Hinrich’s Sixty-year Mission to Build Trust in Trade, around the same time.
🗓️ Date: From Wednesday, 18 November 2026
📍 Location: Hinrich Foundation Trade Gallery, Level 1, Asian Civilisations Museum
🎟️ Admission: Free for Singaporeans and PRs, and the gallery is open to all visitors
🏺 Coming Up: Refreshed Singapore Archaeology section in 2027
If your weekend plans keep defaulting to the same mall, the Hinrich Foundation Trade Gallery is a way, free for Singaporeans and PRs, to learn how ships, goods and people from across the world built the city you live in. Head down after the unveiling on 18 November, then come back in 2027 to see what the archaeology refresh turns up. Check the Asian Civilisations Museum’s website or follow @acm_sg on Instagram for opening hours and upcoming programmes, and make this the museum trip you’ve been putting off!
Photos and Visuals courtesy of Asian Civilisations Museum.
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