Singapore Merlion - Singapore

June 03, 2017

Located in Merlion Park in front of The Fullerton Hotel and across Marina Bay, the Merlion is the symbol of Singapore and probably the most famous statue in the country.

Singapore Merlion

Singapore Merlion History

Construction of the Merlion started in November 1971 and was completed in August 1972. It was made by the late Singaporean sculptor, Lim Nang Seng, and was designed by Alec Fraser-Brunner for the logo of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). The Merlion stands 8.6 meters high and weighs around 70 tons.

Singapore Merlion - Singapore

It looks big from this angle

but actually, it's just this size

Originally, the Merlion was built at the tip of The Fullerton Waterboat House Garden with the Anderson Bridge as its background. Because of its location then, the Merlion looked like it was guarding the entry point of the Singapore River. However, in 2002, the Merlion and its cub were moved from its original location to Merlion Park. The relocation was quite an amazing feat. Using only one barge, two heavy-duty cranes, and a team of only 20 engineers and workers, the statue was moved 120 meters to its present location. It involved, hoisting the statue over the Esplanade Bridge from the barge and then back to it again on the other side. What's more amazing was that it only took two days for this to be done (April 23-25, 2002).

Do you see what I see?

Since then, the Merlion has undergone maintenance, became part of the artwork, and was hit and damaged by lightning. Today, the Merlion gets thousands of visitors every day and surely it is safe to say that it is the most photographed statue in Singapore.

On a side note... Did you know that there are four other Merlions in Singapore that are recognized by the Singapore Tourism Board?

Here are the other Merlions of Singapore:

The Merlion Cub also in Merlion Park

Sentosa Merlion

The small 2-meter tall Merlion a few meters behind the famous Merlion. It is also referred to as the Merlion cub.
The gigantic 37-meter tall Merlion in Sentosa Island also known as Sentosa Merlion.
The 3-meter tall Merlion at Tourism Court (near Grange Road)
The 3-meter tall Merlion on Mt. Faber's Faber Point.

Of these, I manage to see only the first two along with the famous Singapore Merlion during my 2017 Singapore - Malaysia tour with my family. We really made sure to visit and see for ourselves the famous Merlion in Merlion Park because as some people would say "You haven't been to Singapore if you haven't seen the Merlion." Well, we did see it up close but that was after we squeezed in through the crowd of tourists that wanted to get "the perfect selfie" with the Merlion (The Merlion Park was a tourist trap believe me!). Overall, the Merlion is something that you'd be excited to visit and see on your first trip to Singapore but would surely skip on the next.

Singapore Merlion Admission Fee:

It's FREE to visit Merlion Park and see Singapore Merlion.

Why visit Singapore Merlion?

Singapore Merlion is Singapore's most famous landmark. A visit to Singapore won't be complete without seeing and taking a picture with this statue.

Team Nicerio visits Singapore's Merlion

Getting to Merlion Park:

Ride the East-West Line or North-South Line of the MRT and board down at the Raffle's Place MRT Station. From there, the Merlion is just an 8-minute walk away via Battery Road.

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