Deepavali open house for the Istana will be held virtually on Nov 14

Like National Day, the Istana will not be opening its doors to the public this Deepavali but you can still explore its grounds – albeit virtually.

In celebration of Deepavali, President Halimah Yacob will be hosting a virtual Istana open house on Saturday (Nov 14).

During the open house, President Halimah will engage visitors via Facebook Live on questions relating to the Istana.

Highlights include a virtual ‘live’ guided tour of the Istana main building led by an Istana volunteer guide. During the tour, visitors will get the chance to visit the state room, reception room and banquet hall – where state functions are held.

Mock-ups of these state events will be presented as part of the tour instead. 

Visitors can also look forward to an online festive dance performance by students from Admiralty Primary School and a song performance by local performing group, Team Fusion. 

There will also be virtual presentations of animals by Wildlife Reserves Singapore too, so if you are an animal lover, it’s one not to be missed. 

At the end of the tour, visitors can take part in an online quiz contest about the Istana via Kahoot, a game-based learning platform.

The live stream of the virtual open house will take place on President Halimah’s Facebook page on Saturday at 4pm.