10 things you didn't know about National Gallery
- The dome that sits on top of the former Supreme Court was originally copper-coloured.
- Singapore-based Italian architect and sculptor Cavaliere Rudolfo Nolli was responsible for supplying the rows of Corinthian columns at the former City Hall Building.
- There is a smaller dome inside the former Supreme Court.
- The atrium of the Gallery was previously an open-air carpark between the former Supreme Court and City Hall.
- There are still two Supreme Court holding cells preserved from the original 12.
- Singapore's founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew was sworn into office on June 5, 1959 in the City Hall Chamber.
- There is a time capsule buried under the foundation stone of the former Supreme Court Building.
- The painting, Drying Salted Fish, by Nanyang artist Cheong Soo Pieng, at the DBS Singapore Gallery, is one of the images on the back of the $50 note.
- The painting, Kampong Kuchan (Lorong 3, Geylang), by artist Suri Mohyani at the DBS Singapore Gallery, shows what it was like in 1950s Geylang.
- Inspired by a Bali expedition in 1952, four artists - Liu Kang, Chen Wen Hsi, Chen Chong Swee and Cheong Soo Pieng - made art using fresh approaches and new subject matters.
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