The Merlion is one of the most well-known tourist icons of Singapore. Its landmark statue, once at the Merlion Park, was relocated to the front of the Fullerton Hotel in April 2002.

The merlion (Simplified Chinese: 鱼尾狮; Pinyin: Yúwěishī) is a statue with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. Its name comes from a portmanteau of mermaid and lion. The merlion was designed by Fraser Brunner for the Singapore Tourism Board in 1964 and was used as its logo up to 1997. The then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, officiated the installation ceremony of the Merlion in Singapore on 15 September 1972.The Merlion continues to be its trademark symbol. It also appears frequently in STB-approved souvenirs. The original Merlion statue stands at the opening of the Singapore River while a taller replica can be found on Sentosa Island. Image File history File links Merlion. ... Image File history File links Merlion. ... The Fullerton Singapore is a masterpiece of understated comfort and elegance. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), commonly called Pinyin, is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Binomial name Panthera leo (Linnaeus, 1758) Distribution of Lions in Africa Synonyms Felis leo (Linnaeus, 1758) The lion (Panthera leo) is a mammal of the family Felidae and one of four big cats in the genus Panthera. ... A giant grouper at the Georgia Aquarium Fish are aquatic vertebrates that are typically cold-blooded; covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins. ... A portmanteau (IPA pronunciation: ) is a word or morpheme which fuses two or more words or parts of words to give a combined or loaded meaning. ... It has been suggested that Mermaids in popular culture be merged into this article or section. ... The Singapore Tourism Board is a government agency in Singapore, tasked to promote the countrys tourism industry. ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This is a Chinese name; the family name is 李 (Li). ... September 15 is the 258th day of the year (259th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A trademark or trade mark[1] is a distinctive sign of some kind which is used by an individual, business organization or other legal entity to uniquely identify the source of its products and/or services to consumers, and to distinguish its products or services from those of other entities. ... Look up souvenir in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Singapore River The Singapore River is a small river in terms of physical attributes, but of extreme historical importance to the country of Singapore, the political entity which shares its name. ... The big Merlion statue on Sentosa Central Business District from the Carlsberg Sky Tower. ...

The merlion measures 8.6 metres high and weighs 70 tonnes. The Merlion statue was built from cement fondue by the late Singapore craftsman, Mr Lim Nang Seng.

According to the Singapore Tourism Board's publicity campaign, the lion head and fish body of the creature recalls the story of the legendary Sang Nila Utama, who saw a lion while hunting on an island, en route to Malacca. The island eventually became the sea port of Temasek, a precursor to Singapore. Sang Nila Utama, also known as Sri Tri Buana, is a legendary prince who founded Singapore in the countrys ancient history. ... State motto: Bersatu Teguh State anthem: Melaka Maju Jaya Capital Malacca Ruling party Barisan Nasional  - Yang di-Pertua Negeri Mohd Khalil Yaakob  - Ketua Menteri Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam History    - Malacca Sultanate 13th century   - Portuguese control 24 August 1511   - Dutch control 1641   - British control 17 March 1824   - Japanese Occupation 1942-1946... Temasek (Sea Town in Javanese, spelt Tumasik; Simplified Chinese: ) was the name of an early city on the site of modern Singapore. ...

Events

The Merlion undergoing a spruce-up

• From 5 June 2006 till 10 July 2006, the Merlion underwent a spruce-up. Visitors were greeted with illustrated hoardings and canvases covering the safety nettings. The illustrations were designed by Miel, an award-winning senior artist at The Straits Times.

Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... June 5 is the 156th day of the year (157th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... July 10 is the 191st day of the year (192nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... Illustration by Jessie Willcox Smith. ... Billboard, New York City, (2005) A billboard is a large outdoor advertising structure, typically found in high traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. ... Look up Canvas in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Illustration by Jessie Willcox Smith. ... Miel is: French for honey The pseudonym of an award-winning senior artist at The Straits Times A small village in Germany (Miel (Swisttal)) MIEL or Malaysian Industrial Estates Berhad is a wholly-owned subsidiary of a public listed company Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Berhad. ... The definition of an artist is wide-ranging and covers a broad spectrum of activities to do with creating art, practising the arts and/or demonstrating an art. ... The Straits Times is an English-language broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore, currently owned by the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH). ...

Other Merlions

The Merlion on Sentosa

The Merlion on Mount Faber

There are five official Merlions approved by the Singapore Tourism Board. This includes two at the Merlion Park (the work of sculptor Lim Nang Seng. finished in 1972) sculptor , one is the smaller Merlion and the other the main Merlion. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (990x1400, 248 KB) Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Sentosa Merlion User:AngMo Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (990x1400, 248 KB) Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Sentosa Merlion User:AngMo Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1024 × 768 pixel, file size: 334 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1024 × 768 pixel, file size: 334 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ...

Other Merlions include:

• The one at Sentosa, which is a taller replica
• Mount Faber
• Tourism Court at Orchard Spring Lane

The big Merlion statue on Sentosa Central Business District from the Carlsberg Sky Tower. ... Faber Point, the highest point on Mount Faber, overlooks Telok Blangah and the city area. ...

The Merlion in art and popular culture

• Edwin Thumboo cemented the iconic status of the Merlion as a personification of Singapore with his poem Ulysses by the Merlion in 1979. Due to Thumboo's status as Singapore's unofficial poet laureate and the nationalistic mythmaking qualities of his poetry, future generations of Singaporean poets have struggled with the symbol of the Merlion, frequently taking an ironic, critical, or even hostile stand - and pointing out its artificiality and the refusal of ordinary Singaporeans to accept a tourist attraction as their national icon. According to this article, the poem "attracted considerable attention among subsequent poets, who have all felt obliged to write their own Merlion (or anti-Merlion) poems, illustrating their anxiety of influence, as well as the continuing local fascination with the dialectic between a public and a private role for poets, which Thumboo (as Yeats before him, in the Irish context) has wanted to sustain as a fruitful rather than a tense relation between the personal and the public." Among the poems of this nature are Merlign by Alvin Pang and Love Song for a Merlionby Vernon Chan.

• The Merlion was featured - or not featured, depending on how you look at it - in the 2005 Venice Biennale in the work of artist Lim Tzay Chuen called "Mike". In his controversial work, he had proposed taking the sculpture in the Merlion Park to the Singapore Pavilion at the exhibition. The request was refused by the authorities.

• The Merlion has also appeared in a number of films and television series, becoming almost a visual cliché to Singapore as the Eiffel Tower is to Paris.

• It also notably appeared in the anime Cowboy Bebop, where its appearance in an ancient home movie offered amnesiac bounty hunter Faye Valentine a clue to her true origins.

• A merlion can also be seen on the Crest of the 8th Marines in the United States Marine Corps. [1]

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Merlion

Emeritus Professor Edwin Nadason Thumboo (born November 22, 1933) is a Singaporean poet. ... Personification- A kind of metaphore in which a non-human thing is talked about as if it were human. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ... A Poet Laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events. ... The Eiffel Tower (French: , ) is an iron tower built on the Champ de Mars beside the River Seine in Paris, France. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ... Original run April 3, 1998 – April 23, 1999 No. ... Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ...

External links

• Official Merlion FAQs on Singapore Tourism Board website
• Merlion Takes a Time-Out for a shower
• Brief guide to reponses to Thumboo's nation-making poetics by later authors
• Merlion park video
• Individual collector of the Merlion
• Reflections on the comparison between Copenhangen's Little Mermaid and the Merlion
• Signification and Icons as Myths in Singapore Biennale 2006

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