Merlion Park

France has the Eiffel tower

America has the Statue of Liberty

What does SINGAPORE have?

WE HAVE OUR VERY OWN MERLION!

When people think of Singapore, they think of the magnificent merlion!
And we have quite a few statues of them. Two of them are at the merlion park and one at sentosa.

The Merlion Park is a popular tourist attraction in Singapore, attracting over one million visitors a year. The Merlion and its Cub can both be found here and is a landmark on Singapore. The installment ceremony took place on 15 September 1972, officiated by the then Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

The Merlion (head of a lion and body of a fish resting on a crest of waves) was first designed as an emblem for Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in 1964. It was designed by Mr. Fraser Brunner, a curator of the Van Kleef Aquarium. The Merlion statue measures 8.6metres high and weighs 70 tonnes. The smaller statue measures only 2 metres high and weighs just 3 tonnes.

Big Merlion at Merlion park

Merlion at Sentosa

The Merlion's head represents the lion spotted by Prince Sang Nila Utama when he re-discovered Singapura in 11 AD, as recorded in the "Malay Annals". The fish tail of the Merlion symbolizes the ancient city of Temasek (meaning “sea” in Javanese) by which Singapore was known before the Prince named it “Singapura” (meaning “lion” (singa) “city” (pura) in Sanskrit), and represents Singapore’s humble beginnings as a fishing village.

The Merlion Park consists of a promontory with terraced seating, and a viewing deck that can hold up to 300 people. The viewing deck offers photographers an incomparable view of the Merlion against the city skyline and the scenic Marina Bay.

Getting to Merlion Park:

Walk along the riverfront from Raffles Place MRT Station

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