Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum
李光前自然历史博物馆
The Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum at the National University of Singapore
Established18 April 2015 (2015-04-18)
Location2 Conservatory Drive, Singapore 117377
Coordinates1°18′06″N 103°46′25″E / 1.3016°N 103.7736°E / 1.3016; 103.7736
TypeNatural history museum
DirectorPeter Ng Kee Lin
Websitelkcnhm.nus.edu.sg

The Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM; Chinese: 李光前自然历史博物馆) is a museum of natural history at the Kent Ridge Campus of the National University of Singapore. It is named after Lee Kong Chian, a prominent Chinese businessman and philanthropist active in Malaya and Singapore between the 1930s and the 1960s. It was officially opened on 18 April 2015.[1]

The idea for a natural history collection was first mooted by Sir Stamford Raffles, and the collection of Southeast Asian biodiversity was begun in 1849 at the Raffles Museum (now the National Museum of Singapore). In 1972, the Government of Singapore removed the natural history collections from the National Museum and gave them to the Zoology Department of what was then the University of Singapore. They were housed in various temporary premises, including the Nanyang Technological University for seven years. Subsequently, they were returned to the NUS and housed in the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research. LKCNHM inherited the natural history collections from the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research.[2]

The Museum currently has more than 560,000 catalogued lots in its collection and over a million specimens from throughout the region.[2][3] The Zoological Reference Collection was formerly known as the Raffles Natural History Collection.[4]

About 2,000 of these are exhibited in the museum's galleries.[1]

In February 2016, the museum announced that $1 million was raised for scientific and educational efforts related to the 10.6m adult female sperm whale carcass dubbed "Jubi Lee" found in Singapore waters in July 2015.[5] The "Jubilee Whale Exhibit" was unveiled on 14 March that year.[6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum now open". Channel NewsAsia. 19 April 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  2. 1 2 About the Museum, Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, 3 August 2015, archived from the original on 24 June 2015; Tommy Koh (2 May 2015), "Star attractions at new natural history museum: Once like an unwanted orphan, Singapore's natural history collection now has a permanent home in a new museum", The Straits Times, archived from the original on 23 August 2015.
  3. ↑ Tan Dawn Wei (26 March 2013), "Museum homecoming for President Tan", The Straits Times, archived from the original on 23 August 2015.
  4. ↑ "Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum | Infopedia". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  5. ↑ Audrey Tan (21 February 2016), "$1.3m raised for sperm whale exhibit", The Straits Times.
  6. ↑ Audrey Tan (14 March 2016), "Get up close to the Singapore whale at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum", The Straits Times.
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