Sentosa Leisure Group has bought the rights to exhibit a collection of 60,000 rare artefacts found on a shipwreck dating back to 618AD.

The Tang Treasure was found in Indonesian waters, between Sumatra and Borneo, by Tilman Walterfang and his company Rickshaw Investments. It is believed to be the oldest shipwreck found in south west Asia.

Darrell Metzger, sentosa’s chief executive officer, said; “When Sentosa announced its long-term plans to rejuvenate the resort island in 2002, the idea of a maritime museum of international stature was on the cards.

“For more than a year, we have been negotiating to acquire an extraordinary maritime product and we are pleased that we have been successful in borrowing the Tang Treasure to exhibit it to the public.

“We believe this major collection deserves a dignified facility and with four million international and local guests coming to the island every year, we believe that Sentosa can showcase the Tang Treasure to a large audience, giving them the opportunity to learn and perhaps experience for the first time Singapore’s long maritime history ”

The Tang Treasure includes Changsha ceramic ware; rare blue, green and white porcelain pieces and silver and gold artefacts found to be 1,200 years old.

The shipwreck’s remains are said to rewrite certain parts of history, and many hint at the planning of an Arabian-Chinese wedding.

Despite pressure to auction off pieces of the collection, Walterfang has stipulated that the collection must be sold as one lot.

Sentosa Leisure intends to work with Rickshaw Investments and the Singapore Tourism board to stage a major public exhibition of the Tang Treasure around the middle of next year.

If the collection is eventually sold, part of the proceeds will be used to enable the Indonesian government to develop a facility in Indonesia to showcase its own considerable and unique collection of sunken artefacts, including the cargo of the Intan, which Walterfang also uncovered, in 1997.