One of the National Museums of Singapore, the Asian Civilisations Museum's mission is to explore and present the cultures and civilisations of Asia, so as to promote awareness and appreciation of the ancestral cultures of Singaporeans and their links to each other, Southeast Asia and the World. The first and only museum in the region to focus on Asian cultures and civilisations, the museum prides itself on presenting art and history in a contemporary fashion. Housed in the grand Empress Place Building of 1867, the ACM features ten thematic galleries, and has a collection of over 16,000 artefacts spanning 5000 years of Asian cultures. Displays on Southeast Asia, China, South Asia and the Islamic world of West Asia are complemented by state-of-the-art computer interactives and multimedia displays which provide a memorable experience for the senses. The museum's expanding collection includes recent acquisitions as well as artefacts inherited from the historic Southeast Asian ethnographic collection of the Raffles Museum. Throughout the year, visitors can also expect a programme of changing special exhibitions that focus on pan-Asian cultures of the region.