Merlion Sculpture. The merlion— a mythical creature with the body of a fish and the head of a lion— occurs in a number of different artistic traditions. Lions with fishtails can be found on Indian murals at Ajanta and Mathura, and on Etruscan coins of the Hellenistic period. Merlions, or ‘heraldic sea- lions’, are an established element of Western heraldry, and have been used on the coat of arms of the city of Great Yarmouth in the United Kingdom; the City of Manila; and the East India Company.

Singapore’s Merlion sculpture was created in 1972 by sculptor Lim Nang Seng (1907– 1987). It was based on a concept of artist and educator Kwan Sai Kheong. The original idea of using a merlion to represent Singapore can be traced back to 1964, however, when the newly established Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (STPB)— precursor to the Singapore Tourism Board— unveiled a logo that included a merlion floating above stylized waves, over a motto carrying the words ‘lion city’.

The board credited the design of this logo to Frank Brunner, a curator at the Van Kleef Aquarium and a member of the Souvenirs Committee at the STPB. At the time, the logo was said to have been derived from the literal meaning of the toponym Singapore (i.e., ‘lion city’).

The sculpture was commissioned at a cost of $165,000, in the hope of establishing a specific landmark that would come to be associated with Singapore. It was constructed of concrete around a steel frame, and designed to spout water into the harbour. The 8.6- m high, 70- tonne sculpture was sited in Merlion Park, at the mouth of the Singapore River. The then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew opened the park on 15 September 1972.

A 37- metre- high Merlion Tower was unveiled as a tourist attraction on Sentosa in 1996.

In 2002, the original Merlion was moved to a new Merlion Park built on reclaimed land on the Marina Bay side of the Esplanade Bridge— a structure that had cut off the former site from the sea. The move cost some $7.5 million, but the new park proved to be popular with tourists. The Merlion was set upon a new base, and the original pump, which drove the Merlion’s spout, was replaced by two more powerful pumps.

The Merlion has been commonly featured in Singapore literature. Examples include poet Edwin Thumboo’s Ulysses by the Merlion (1977); Lee Tzu Pheng’s The Merlion to Ulysses (1997); Alfian Saat’s The Merlion (1998); and Alvin Pang’s Merlign (1998).

Photo credit: The Esplanade Co. Ltd