Singapore Travel » Singapore Information » Merlion of Singapore |
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Merlion of Singapore
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The landmark statue of the Merlion in Singapore is a famous and very popular tourist attraction. The Merlin is the statue having the body of a fish and head of a lion. The word Merlion is a portmanteau word, formed by combining two different words, mermaid and lion. Fraser Burner designed the Merlion in 1964 for The Singapore Tourism Board and it remained its logo till 1997.The original statue of the Merlion is located at the mouth of the Singapore River and the taller version of the statue stands on the Sentosa Island
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Legend of the Merlion:
As per Singapore Tourism Board's campaign for publicity, The Merlion is constructed to honor the legend of Sang Nila Utama, who while traveling to Malakka observed a peculiar lion on an island. That very island was eventually transformed into the Temasak sea-port, Singapore's precursor.
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The original Merlion at the mouth of the Singapore River was given a face-off from 5th June, 2006 till 10th July, 2006.
The other Merlions of Singapore:
Five other Merlions also got the approval of the Singapore Tourism Board. These are:
- The 2 Merlions at the Merlion Park constructed in 1972 by Lim Nang Seng.
- Mount Faber
- At the tourism Court in The Orchard Shopping Lane
- and Merlion at Sentosa.
The Fake Merlions in Singapore
The fake Merlion in Singapore was constructed without the approval of the Singapore Tourism Board at the Ang Mo Kio and it was subsequently removed from the place.
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Role of the Merlion in Singapore's Art and Culture
Singapore's poet-laureatte, Edwin Thumboo made the Merlion an icon of Singapore in his poem, Ulysses. Subsequently other poets followed suit and they started writing their own poems on the Merlion like "The Merlign" by the poet Alvin pang and Vernon Chan's "Love Song for a Merlion". The Merlion has become a cliché to Singapore as the Big Ben is to London, shown in many films and T.V. series.
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| Disclaimer: The data provided here is based on the facts and research using available sources. As the data is made available on "as is" basis and subject to change anytime. This website shall not be liable for any discrepancy found in the data on our site and actual figures. |
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