The Merlion is a fabulous beast in Singapore with a lion and a fish on its head. This imaginary creature is used as a symbol of Singapore. The 8.6-meter-high half-lion and half-fish sculpture is located at the mouth of the Singapore River, and the statue enters the new home of Merlion Park. The Singapore Merlion is made of a cement hot pot with eyes from a small red cup and a skin from a porcelain plate weighing about 40 tons. The Merlion logo was designed by members of the Memorial Committee and Fraser Brunner, the director of the Van Klein Bruna Aquarium.
In ancient times, Singapore was known as Temasek [meaning "sea town" in Javanese]. The prince of Palembang discovered the island and saw a strange beast. He thought it was just a lion. He decided to stay with the man on the island and named the island "Singapore." This means the Lion City [Singa means the lion in Malay, pura means the city in Sankrit]. However, recent research has shown that lions have never lived there before, and that the creatures Sang Nila Utama saw were either white foxes or Malay tigers. It is said that the fishtail of the Merlion represents the earliest fishing village in Singapore.
The Merlion joins more than one million visitors each year to the Merlion Park. Today, Singapore has five official Merlion statues. You can find them at the Singapore Tourism Board headquarters in Sentosa Island, Merlion Park, Mount Faber and Orchard Springs.
On February 28, 2009, at 4:25 pm on Saturday, the Merlion in Merlion Park was struck by lightning. The accident occurred because the Merlion itself lacked lighting protection. To be on the safe side, about 30 people rushed into nearby restaurants, while other onlookers continued to photograph the 38-year-old tourist landmark. Although Merlion itself resumed water spray on March 18, 2009, the repair work on the statue ended at the end of March.
Orignal From: Singapore Merlion Statue - History, Facts and Information
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