The Merlion is a traditional creature in western heraldry that depicts a monster with a lion
head and a body of a fish. In Singapore, it has become a marketing icon
used as a mascot and national personification of Singapore.
The merlion—a statue 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 cities of Portsmouth and Great Yarmouth in the United Kingdom; the
City of Manila; and the East India Company.
Singapore Merlion The Merlion is the national personification
of Singapore. Its name combines "mer" meaning the sea and
"lion". 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 Alec Fraser-Brunner, 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. Original statue
On 15 September 1972, then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew officiated the installation ceremony
of the Merlion statue. The original Merlion statue used to stand at the mouth of the Singapore
River, at the tip of the current The Fullerton Waterboat House Garden with Anderson Bridge
as its background. The Merlion is a male. It was conceptualised by the vice-chancellor
of the University of Singapore then, Kwan Sai Kheong. Made from November 1971 to August
1972 by the late Singapore sculptor, Mr Lim Nang Seng, it measures 8.6 metres high and
weighs 70 tons. Its body is made of cement, skin from porcelain plates and eyes from small
red teacups. The project cost about S$165,000. Relocation of original statue
The completion of the Esplanade Bridge, in 1997, blocked the views of the Merlion from
the Marina Bay waterfront. By then, the original Merlion location was also no longer the entrance
of Singapore River. So, in 2002, the statue and its cub were relocated 120 metres to the
current Merlion Park that fronts Marina Bay where it stands on a newly reclaimed promontory
in front of The Fullerton Hotel. Another solution considered—to raise the
Merlion on a pedestal at its original location—was deemed unsuitable as the view would still
be blocked by the bridge. Other possible relocation sites considered included Nicoll Highway Extension
Bridge, Esplanade Park, Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, a promontory at Marina Centre,
a promontory site at Bayfront and Kim Seng Park. However, all were either unsuitable
or not technically feasible. The unprecedented feat of relocation began
on 23 April 2002, and finished on 25 April. A carefully engineered journey required one
barge, two DEMAG AC1600S cranes of 500 tonnes lifting capacity, plus a team of 20 engineers
and workers on site. The entire statue was hoisted onto the barge, which then sailed
to the new installation site at the current Merlion Park, near the mouth of Singapore
River. During the voyage, the statue had to be hoisted from the barge, over the Esplanade
Bridge and then back onto the barge, as it was too tall to pass underneath.
Exactly 30 years after it was officially launched, then-Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew returned
on 15 September 2002 to ceremonially welcome the Merlion again – this time in its new
home. A viewing deck now stretches over the Singapore River, allowing visitors to pose
for a photograph with a front or side view of the Merlion, including a new city skyline
backdrop in the picture. The sculpture was aligned to face East, a direction advised
to be most auspicious. Relocated, the statue once more spouted water from its mouth, having
stopped in its old location since 1998 due to a water pump malfunction. The Merlion now
has a new two-unit water pump system with units working alternatively, so a partner
is always on standby. The relocation and new site cost S$7.5 million.
Maintenance of original statue From 5 June till 10 July 2006, the Merlion
at Merlion Park underwent maintenance. The last one was right after its relocation. Dirt
and stains were removed using high-pressure water streams, and various wear and tear of
the statue was mended. During that period, visitors were greeted
with illustrated hoardings and canvases covering the safety nets and scaffolding. The illustrations
were designed by Miel, an award-winning senior artist at The Straits Times. The illustration
on the canvases made them look like shower curtains, with the Merlion sticking its head
out with the shadow of its tail behind the curtain. The illustration on the hoardings
showed the Merlion scrubbing himself with a brush and showering using a Merlion shower
head spouting water. The Merlion said "EXCUSE ME while i take a shower …" in a speech
bubble. The Merlion on Sentosa was designed and sculpted
by an Australian Artist called James Martin. It is made of Glass Reinforced Cement over
a steel armature that is attached to the centre The Merlion Park was temporarily turned into
a single-unit hotel suite, as part of the an artwork by Tatzu Nishi, for the duration
of the 2011 Singapore Biennale. Merlion statues
These five Merlions in Singapore are the only ones recognised by the STB:
The 8.6-metre-tall original statue at Merlion Park
The two-metre-tall cub statue standing behind the original statue
The 37-metre-tall gigantic replica – with Mouth Gallery Viewing Deck on the ninth storey,
another viewing gallery on its head and The Merlion Shop – at Sentosa Island
The three-metre-tall glazed polymarble statue at Tourism Court completed in 1995
The three-metre-tall polymarble statue placed on Mount Faber's Faber Point
Also, a pair of Merlion statues were constructed by the Ang Mo Kio Residential Committee in
1998. Those sit at the entrance of the car park along Ang Mo Kio Ave 1.
Other Merlion statues Due to the influence of overseas Singaporeans,
Singapore investors and friends of the country, variations of the Merlion statue can be found
in Japan, China and the United States of America. Merlion damage by lightning
On Saturday, 28 February 2009 at about 4:26 pm the Merlion in the Merlion Park was struck
by lightning. A breaking news from 938LIVE local radio showed an image with fragments
from the Merlion's head on the ground. Examination of the damage was done quickly
with wooden scaffolding set up on Sunday, 1 March 2009 for workers to take a closer
look at the hole. The incident happened as a result of the lack of lightning protection
on the Merlion itself.
Merlion souvenirs A wide variety of Merlion souvenirs are sold
at tourist areas in Singapore. Some form of Merlion souvenirs include:
Display model, with smaller ones doubling up as paperweights
Mini soft toy keychains or mobile phone charms Picture frames
Refrigerator magnets Soft toys
The Merlion in art and popular culture
In anime The Merlion (jap: マーライオン) appeared
in the influential anime Cowboy Bebop, where its appearance in an ancient home movie offers
Singaporean amnesiac bounty hunter Faye Valentine a clue to her true origins.
The Merlion featured heavily in Hajime Satō's reimagining of Shinjuku in the 2005 anime,
Karas. The Merlion is featured in episode 11 of Japanese
light novel, Seitokai no Ichizon. The Merlion is seen in special episode 1 of
the manga, Hidamari Sketch. The Merlion appears when the lady landlord
is searching for an apartment key in Episode 10 of Hidamari Sketch X: "Hoshimittsu".
The Merlion was used in an exclamation by Kyoto Toshino in episode 8 of "YuruYuri" in
response to seeing Chizuru Ikeda drooling. In Phineas and Ferb's "Summer belongs to you!",
The Merlion was seen when the gang was bouncing around the world in a large rubber ball.
In the anime Beelzebub, Tatsuya Himekawa had merlion decorations in his house
In decoration and insignia A merlion can be seen on the Crest of the
8th Marine Regiment of the United States Marine Corps.
The Merlion is the chosen motif for Number 92 Wing located at RAAF Base Edinburgh, South
Australia. The Merlion was chosen for its skills as a maritime hunter patrolling the
seas without fear nor failure as it prosecutes its prey.
In gaming The Merlion can also be seen in the popular
video game Animal Crossing for the Nintendo GameCube, and its sequels, as a decoration.
The Merlion can be summoned in the DS game, Scribblenauts and Super Scribblenauts.
In literature 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 ironical, 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. The poem "attracted considerable attention
among subsequent poets, who have all felt obliged to write their own 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 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 Merlion"
by Vernon Chan. More recent poems include "Merlion: Strike One" by Koh Buck Song in
the 2009 anthology, Reflecting on the Merlion. Merlions as a species were fictional characters
in Gwee Li Sui's Myth of the Stone, the first full-length graphic novel published in Singapore.
They were depicted as calm and wise creatures that fought on the side of good and eventually
overcame the dreaded Kraken. Gwee further popularised the iconoclastic image of the
spitting Merlion in the early 1990s. It reappeared later with his well-loved poem "Propitiations"
in his book of poems Who Wants to Buy a Book of Poems?.
As mascots and performance characters For the inaugural Singapore 2010 Summer Youth
Olympics, a pair of mascots, Lyo and Merly, were introduced. Merly is a "Merlion-ess cub"
based on the Merlion. Her hair is inspired by the lion top half while her fish half is
represented in light-blue scales like Godzilla on her body. Unlike the actual merlion, she
has hands and legs instead of a tailfin. The Merlion appeared in the Magical Sentosa
show awakening at the last scene and shining a laser beam.(Similar to the storyline of
the Songs of the Sea show.) In parlance
Singaporeans often substitute the term "Merlion" in lieu of vomiting, in reference of the constant
gushing of water from the Merlion's mouth. It is now used by Singaporean medical staff
as slang for a patient who has intractable vomiting.
In restaurants The critically acclaimed Singapore Merlion
restaurant in Coolangatta, Queensland, is named after the Merlion.
In sculpture A small Merlion, complete with a plaque giving
information about the original statues, forms part of the decoration in the "Mystic East"
area of British theme park Chessington World of Adventures.
The Merlion was featured– or, depending on point of view, not featured– during the
2005 Venice Biennale in the controversial work "Mike" by artist Lim Tzay Chuen. He had
proposed taking the sculpture in the Merlion Park to the Singapore Pavilion at the exhibition,
but was refused by the authorities . There is also a Merlion statue by artist Romero
Britto, located just outside the Universal Studios Singapore.
Similar symbols The carp statue, in front of Chenghuang Temple
in Hsinchu City, Taiwan. On May 30, 1596, King Philip II of Spain gave
the City of Manila its own specific coat of arms.,
"On the upper half of the coat of arms is a castle of gold on a red field, with a door
and windows in blue, atop the shield a crown. On the lower half, on a blue field is a figure
half lion half dolphin in silver, with colored claws and tongue, the merlion holds in its
paws an unsheathed sword..."
At the moment, the Sea-lion is prominent in the Philippines, where it features on the
coat-of-arms of its capital, primatial see, and its President's Seal. The heraldic device
comes from Manila's colonial arms where the Sea-lion represents the islands as an ultramar
possession of Spain; the lion is ultimately derived from the arms of Castile and León.
See also Sea-lion
References
Further reading Analysis of the mythology and meaning of the
Merlion from the perspective of country branding in: Koh, Buck Song. Brand Singapore: How Nation
Branding Built Asia's Leading Global City. Marshall Cavendish, Singapore. ISBN 978-981-4328-15-9.
External links Official Merlion FAQs on Singapore Tourism
Board website Merlion Takes a Time-Out for a shower
Virtual Reality Tour of Merlion Park Brief guide to responses to Thumboo's nation-making
poetry 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 938LIVE Merlion Struck by Lightning report