Space is limited to the first 20 visitors on a first-come, first-served basis; please pick up your special sticker from the front desk.
For further information, contact Sue Williams.

All ACM images copyright and courtesy ACM.

For the next few months, by way of a series of special Gallery in Focus tours that commence on Mondays and Thursdays at 1:00 pm in the main foyer of the Asian Civilisations Museum, a team of docents will be presenting to you the enormous contribution that Asia's civilisations have made to world culture materially, artistically and intellectually.

What is grown in Asian gardens, what do Asian gardens look like and, more intriguingly, what do they mean? These are some of the questions we ask in May, when Spring arrives at the ACM bringing the Month of Asian Gardens & Plants.

Paradise on earth, oases for heart and mind, symbols of life and wisdom, allegorical vessels, schematics for the greater universe - these are some of the ways Asian gardens and plants have expressed and shaped human thinking. As providers of food, medicine, shelter, beauty and aesthetic repose, plants have no equal on earth. Diversity in the terrain, weather and habitat of this large continent occupying approximately one-third of the earth's land mass has delivered unique plants that have been the basis of global trade for centuries. Tea, opium, rice, spices, rubber, tulips, roses, teak and bamboo are some of the plants and plant products that have conquered the world.

Using artefacts in the ACM's galleries, a superb team of docents will describe and explore the variety of cultural meanings gardens and plants have in Asia. The program for the month is:

The program for May 2012 is :