Roots.sg Singapore National Heritage Portal (National Heritage Board)

Overview

Roots.sg is Singapore's national heritage content portal, operated by the National Heritage Board (NHB). It serves as a one-stop destination for Singaporeans and international users to discover Singapore's diverse culture, history, and heritage through collections of objects, images, stories, historic sites, national monuments, heritage trails, and intangible cultural heritage resources.

History and Background

Roots.sg was developed following an opportunity to revamp the Singapore National Collection website in 2014, when NHB embarked on an ambitious project to create a heritage resource content bank as a key pillar of its digital strategy. The portal brings together the National Collection, Heritage Trails, National Monuments, and Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) elements into a single platform.

Collections and Holdings

The portal provides access to the National Collection, which today comprises over 250,000 objects and artworks, of which more than 100,000 have been digitised and are accessible on Roots.sg. The National Collection's origins trace to the early 19th century, when Stamford Raffles established the Raffles Library and Museum. The portal also features Heritage Trails covering areas such as the Civic District, Chinatown, Little India, Orchard Road, Jurong, Hougang, and many others, along with a database of National Monuments and Marked Historic Sites across Singapore.

Notable Holdings

Roots.sg hosts significant materials related to Singapore's media history, including information about the British Malaya Broadcasting Corporation, which occupied a building later used as a Japanese propaganda office during WWII and then as the headquarters for the Japanese Surrender in 1945. The portal documents oral histories, community memory projects, and cultural documentation across Singapore's diverse ethnic communities.

Access and Usage

Roots.sg is freely accessible online at roots.gov.sg. Users can explore collections, request in-person viewings of artefacts, browse heritage trails, and access educational resources. The portal is produced by the National Heritage Board, which was established in 1993.