The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum is hard to miss: It’s a four-story high, vivid red-and-green, Tang-styled Chinese Buddhist temple, and it sits smack dab in the heart of Singapore's Chinatown.
The temple is actually not that old; it was completed in 2007 at a cost of S$62 million. It prides itself on the extensively-researched accuracy and authenticity on its design and architecture.
Which is all very nice, but let's be honest: Singapore is chock full of Chinese buildings and Buddhist temples. A lot of them are unique too, so what makes this specific temple particularly remarkable?
One-of-a-kind construction in Singapore
Here's the bottom line: What makes the architecture of the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple (BTRTM) truly impressive on the outside is that it’s the only building in the entire country that is lacquered, rather than painted.
This was possible because of the wood they chose – “Yellow Balau” – a hard, dense and heavy tropical hardwood, originating from Kalimantan. The wood is durable, finely grained, knot-free, and naturally resistant to fungal decay and insect attack. Thy used 2000 sqm of timber on the exterior. It was carefully sanded and then strengthened with successive layers of linen and plaster (7 of linen and 5 of plaster), smoothed and sanded at every stage.
Time consuming, to say the least.
Finally, they finished with three coats of a special Chinese lacquer to protects the temple from Singapore’s harsh weather conditions. The walls and trim are carefully selected shades of red and green, respectively.
The straight, supporting rafter beams atop the building are also protected, by round, bronze ornament caps. The yellow gilt on the lotus-patterned ornaments creates a nice complement to all the red and green.
What’s inside Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum
The temple was closed for a special event when we arrived so we weren't able to go inside. We were really disappointed, because as the best Buddhist cultural complex in the region, it's one of the top “must see” sights in Singapore, and with only one day in Singapore we couldn't return the next day.
The temple features many facets of Buddhist arts and culture, most notably relics of the Buddha. The most prized is reputed to be one of his teeth. IIt's housed in a massive, solid gold stupa, created from donations of gold jewelry from devotees.
There are other things to see besides the temple. Highlights include the Buddhist Culture Museum, Eminent Sangha Museum, Sacred Light Hall, and a Theatre for cultural performances. Also, be sure to go up to the roof. It houses a giant Buddhist prayer wheel and the Dendrobium Buddha Tooth, an orchid named for the BTRTM, both of which I really wanted to see.
Now that we know what we missed we'll be sure that, when we return to Singapore, we won't miss it again.
Visiting information
- Hours: Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum is open daily from 7:00 am – 7:00 pm, but some parts close at 6 pm, so get there early.
- Admission: Free, though donations for upkeep are appreciated.
- Dress code: Wear appropriate attire to show respect (no bare backs/shoulders, shorts, mini-skirts, etc.)
- Facilities: Simple vegetarian fare is served in the basement dining hall. Otherwise, no food (or pets) inside the Temple.
- Photography: Non-flash photography is permitted everywhere, with the exception of the Relic Shrine.
See more
For more photos, see our Singapore photo galleries.
Learn more
- Take a free guided tour of the temple on Saturdays. Tours in Mandarin are held at 10am. English language tours are held at 2pm. Preregistration is required. Details here.
- Read more about BTRTM on Wikipedia.
- Read our article that explains how to spend one day in Singapore.
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Written by Linda
Linda is multilingual and has been to over 50 countries. Her insatiable love of travel, cuisine, and foreign languages has inspired her to create As We Saw It with her husband Dan, a professional photographer. Her goal is to make travel easier for others and to offer a brief escape to another land.
I just love these colours and the beautiful architecture! Great tip about the right attire, when i first visited Buddhist temples, I hadn’t known about it so quite useful to carry a sarong around if wearing shorts etc.
Carrying a sarong is a great idea. It might be wise to carry one throughout southeast Asia.
Awesome Linda! It’s also neat to see a recently-built temple versus many built hundreds of years ago. Thanks!
An impressive-looking temple! We’ll be in Singapore before a cruise early next year – have to put seeing this temple on our list :-).
I hope you do. It’s one of the best attractions in the city.