Singapore - After dropping my son for tuition, I took a short walk from St Andrew's Cathedral to Fort Canning Park. As mentioned on the park website, Fort Canning Park is an iconic hilltop that once sited the palaces of 14th century Kings and served as the Headquarters of the Far East Command Centre and British Army Barracks. The decision to surrender Singapore to the Japanese on 15 February 1942 was also made on the hill, in the Underground Far East Command Centre, commonly known as Battle Box.
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| Entrance to the park |
As you walked along the permimeter of the park along the stairs, memorial tablets lined the wall of previous deceased British citizens.
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| Cobbled stones pathway |
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| The Cupolas |
It was mentioned on the plaque that these two small monuments were designed by the important architect of early Singapore, G D Coleman (1795 - 1844). He also designed much larger structures with a similar shape. The roof of the Armenian Church of St Gregory the Illuminator at Hill Street once had a dome with such a structure on the top, but this was removed when the church was remodelled in 1854.
No record of their date of construction or their purpose survives; they were probably meant as places to rest and enjoy the peace and quiet of the hill.
Walking further up, I saw another structure and this was a memorial for a son by a British Elite.
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| Memorial to James Brook Napier |
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Fort Canning Art Centre
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| 9-pound Cannon |
There are lots of historical artifacts in this park, just pass the cannon - there is a memorial for one of late King that ruled Temasek (Singapore).
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| Keramat Iskandar Shah |
This is the shrine of Iskandar Shah with so many pigeons around.
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| Huge Petai tree |
The fruit of the Petai tree also called 'Petai' is famous for medicinal healing effects for kidney and diabetes.
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| Gate of Fort Canning |
There are many art works scattered around the parks.
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| What am I? |
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| Imagine |
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| From a distance |
Atop the hill you can see the business distrinct and SMU in the distance.
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| Raffles House |
It is a replica house of the former residence of Sir Stamford Raffles which was once built on the same site in 1822.
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| The Fort Canning Flagstaff |
The Flagstaff, one of the three early navigation structures on Fort Canning Hill. The flagstaff was used to display the arrival, identity, location and status of ships entering Singapore Harbour. This was followed by a time ball, a lighthouse and a telegraph office in later years.
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| Fort Canning Lighthouse |
Fort Canning Hill, with its strategic location overlooking the Singapore Harbour, was used as a communication centre after the British established port here in 1819. Fort Canning Lighthouse was built on the southern side of Fort Canning Hill to guide ships safely towards the Singapore Harbour. The first signal light on Fort Canning was a simple lantern attached to the top of the Flagstaff in 1855.
This area with the lighthouse and Raffle house is called Raffles Terrace.
There is alos an archelogical excavation around Fort Canning park.
