Tuesday to Friday- 12 noon - 1pm

Docents take you on a free 60-minute highlights tour of the 5 permanent galleries in English, every Tuesday- Friday at 12 noon (except public holidays and FOM event days).

Special tours for groups, schools and corporates are available on request and subject to availability of docents. We also offer special tours in Hindi, French and Russian, on request. Please email IHC Coordinator.

English tours -Wednesdays and Fridays (excluding public holidays) at 2pm.
Tamil tours- 1st Friday of each month (excluding public holidays) at 11:30am.
Malay and bahasa Indonesia tours on request
(Please direct requests for special tours to Coordinator.IHC@gmail.com. These are subject to availability of docents).

ONE MONTH TO GO BEFORE THE CLOSING OF  "CHETTI MELAKA OF THE STRAITS – Rediscovering Peranakan Indian Communities" at Level 2 galleries of the Indian Heritage Centre.

A fascinating community, the Chetti Melaka (or Chitty Melaka) are descendants of Tamil traders who settled in Melaka during the reign of the Melaka Sultanate (15th- 16th century) and married local women of Malay and Chinese descent. Predominantly Hindu of the Saivite (followers of Shiva) denomination, the community speaks a unique combination of Malay, Tamil and Chinese, that has been called Chetti Creole by scholars. 

FOM docents from IHC and from TPM come together to guide this example of assimilation and adaptation.

Watch a Straits Times video here

Photo and text credit: Indian Heritage Centre

On request and subject to availability of docent

Book an outdoors trail with our docents in this NHB heritage trail of 1900s Little India. Come see the remnants of this cosmopolitan precinct's past in its architecture, street names and monuments. Finish up with a 30 minutes express tour of the Indian Heritage Centre (optional). Contact IHC Coordinator for details. 

20 weeks of rigorous studying and intense gallery practise saw 15 IHC trainees ready to be launched as full-fledged docents. Join us at their final tours all through April 2019 at 12 noon. Seen here with the FOM team who played a huge role in this training.

To be a part of the next cohort starting September 2019, email fomdocenttraining@gmail.com. Or join us at the Public Information Meeting on 16 May 2019 at National Museum of Singapore.

On request

A team of docents are qualified to guide in Tamil for groups, including school groups. This is on request, at least 3 weeks in advance and subject to availability of docents.

Tang Siew Ngoh writes about Ron Dudley, a personality featured in the Indian Heritage Centre's fifth gallery, which explores the making of the nation and the significant contributions of the Indian community. Privileged to have worked alongside this tireless advocate for inclusion, Siew Ngoh quotes his line 'No child should be left standing at the school gate' which is a key insight into his inclusive philosophy. Read the article or visit IHC to learn more.