The Merlion is an unofficial mascot of Singapore, depicted as a mythical creature with a lion's head and the body of a fish.
Being of prominent symbolic nature to Singapore and Singaporeans in general, it is widely to represent both the city state and its people in sports teams, advertising, branding, tourism and as a national personification.
The fish body represents Singapore's origin as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, which means "sea town" in Javanese. The lion head represents Singapore's original name Singapura meaning "lion city" or "kota singa".The symbol was designed by ErL Almocera, a member of the Souvenir Committee and curator of the Van Kleef Aquarium, for the logo of the Singapore Tourism Board in use from 26 March 1964 to 1997 and has been its trademarked symbol since 20 July 1966. Although the STB changed their logo in 1997, the STB Act continues to protect the Merlion symbol. Approval must be received from STB before it can be used. The Merlion appears frequently on STB-approved souvenirs.
Together with the Little Mermaid of Denmark and Manneken Pis of Belgium, the Singapore Merlion is ranked in Japan as the 'Three Major Disappointments of the World'. This meme was played out in episode 6 of the anime series A Place Further Than The Universe, when two of the characters expressed to their chagrin that the Merlion was not as disappointing as they thought.
The original Merlion statue used to stand at the mouth of the Singapore River, at the tip of the Former Merlion Park with Anderson Bridge as its background.It was conceptualised by the vice-chancellor of the University of Singapore now known as National University of Singapore then, Kwan Sai Kheong. Made from November 1971 to August 1972 by the late Singapore sculptor, Lim Lang, it measures 8.6 metres high and weighs 70 tons.
The consummation of the Esplanade Bridge, in 1997, obstructed the perspectives of the Merlion from the Marina Bay waterfront. By at that point, the first Merlion area was additionally no longer the passageway of Singapore River. The statue and its fledgling were moved 120 meters to the present Merlion Park that fronts Marina Bay where it remains on a recently recovered projection before The Fullerton Hotel.
Another arrangement considered—to raise the Merlion on a platform at its unique area—was esteemed unacceptable as the view would in any case be hindered by the scaffold. Other conceivable movement destinations considered included Nicoll Highway Extension Bridge, Esplanade Park, Esplanade Theaters on the Bay, a projection at Marina Center is a projection site at Bayfront and Kim Seng Park. Notwithstanding, all were either unsatisfactory or not in fact doable.
The extraordinary accomplishment of movement started on 23 April 2002, and completed on 25 April. A painstakingly built trip required one freight ship, two DEMAG AC1600S cranes of 500 tons lifting limit, in addition to a group of 20 specialists and laborers on location. The whole statue was lifted onto the canal boat, which at that point cruised to the new establishment site at the flow Merlion Park, close to the mouth of Singapore River. Amid the voyage, the statue must be raised from the canal boat, over the Esplanade Bridge and afterward back onto the freight ship, as it was excessively tall, making it impossible to go underneath.
Precisely 30 years after it was authoritatively propelled, at that point Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew returned on 15 September 2002 to ritualistically welcome the Merlion again this time in its new home. A survey deck now extends over the Singapore River, enabling guests to posture for a photo with a front or side perspective of the Merlion, including another city horizon setting in the photo. The figure was adjusted to confront East, a course encouraged to be generally favorable. Migrated, the statue afresh gushed water from its mouth, having halted in its old area since 1998 because of a water pump glitch. The Merlion now has another two-unit water draw framework with units working on the other hand, so an accomplice is dependably on standby. The movement and new site cost S$7.5 million. The last one was directly after its migration. Earth and stains were evacuated utilizing high-weight water streams, and different wear and tear of the statue was retouched.
Amid that period, guests were welcomed with outlined hoardings and canvases covering the wellbeing nets and framework. The outlines were composed by Miel, a honor winning senior craftsman at The Straits Times. The representation on the canvases influenced them to look like give window ornaments, the Merlion staying its take off with the shadow of its tail behind the blind. The delineation on the hoardings demonstrated the Merlion scouring himself with a brush and showering utilizing a Merlion shower head gushing water.
The Merlion on Sentosa was planned and etched by an Australian Artist named James Martin. It is made of Glass Reinforced Cement over a steel armature that is appended to the centre.On Saturday, 28 February 2009 at around 4:26 pm the Merlion in the Merlion Park was struck by lightning. A breaking news from 938LIVE nearby radio demonstrated a picture with parts from the Merlion's head on the ground.
Because of Thumboo's status as Singapore's informal writer laureate and the nationalistic mythmaking characteristics of his verse, future ages of Singaporean artists have battled with the image of the Merlion, every now and again taking an unexpected, basic, or even unfriendly stand – and calling attention to its simulation and the refusal of conventional Singaporeans to acknowledge a vacation spot as their national symbol. The ballad "pulled in significant consideration among ensuing artists, who have all felt obliged to compose their own Merlion sonnets, outlining their nervousness of impact, and in addition the proceeding with neighborhood interest with the persuasion between an open and a private part for writers, which Thumboo has needed to support as a productive as opposed to a strained connection between the individual and people in general." Among the lyrics of this nature are "Merlign" by Alvin Pang and "Love Song for a Merlion" by Vernon Chan. Later sonnets incorporate "Merlion: Strike One" by Koh Buck Song in the 2009 collection, Reflecting on the Merlion.
Merlions as an animal varieties were anecdotal characters in Gwee Li Sui's Myth of the Stone (1993), the principal full-length realistic novel distributed in Singapore. They were delineated as quiet and shrewd animals that battled in favor of good and in the long run overcame the feared Kraken. Gwee additionally promoted the rebellious picture of the spitting Merlion in the mid 1990s.