Minature Merlion Statue Souvenir from Singapore

Merlion Statue Souvenir

Ask anyone who has travelled to Singapore – what is the most popular souvenir of Singapore – 101 out of 100 will say a Merlion statue. A miniature Merlion souvenir is indeed uniquely Singapore that transports you back to the Merlion Park. Spouting water from its mouth, the Merlion statue stands tall at 8.6m and weighs 70 tons. The souvenirs come in different sizes to suit different budget and space in your backpacks.

Many have chipped in to say that they wished they could bring back some orchids with them. So I looked for a piece that would represent both these popular aspects of Singapore. The different statues you find at the souvenir shops of Singapore are: soap carving, glass statues, antique finish metal statues, toothpick holder, cups, T-shirts, candles, fridge magnets, cocktail fork holder, snow globes, 3D Laser Crystal models, glass seal desk decoration, key chains, crystal paper weights and more.

I settled for a toothpick holder that had an orchid flower etched on it. So I have a – two in one – symbol of Singapore. How is that?! Know more about this mythical creature, its origin, legend and how it became the symbol of Singapore in my blog.

Merlion Statue Souvenir – toothpick holder

Legend of Merlion

From Sejarah Melayu (the Malay Annals)

Sang Nila Utama, the first king of Malays, King of Suvaranabhumi (Sanskrit name for Malay Peninsula), son of Indian king Rajah Culan and a fairy princess from the depths of ocean, reigned during the years AD 1299-1347. He got the title Tri Buana, meaning the Lord of the Three Worlds in Sanskrit, that of Gods, humans and underworld.

One day Sri Tri Buana, during his visit to Bintan Island, from a hill top saw white sandy beaches and was enchanted by it. According to archaeological reports Singapore’s south shore had blindingly white sandy beach in early 14^th century. TriBuana was told it was Temasek, as Singapore was known then.

Curiosity took him to the shores of Temasuk where he saw the legendary animal. It had a red body, black head, seemed strong and slightly bigger than a he-goat. The animal moved with great speed and vanished from their sight in no time. A wise counsellor said that in ancient times, lions had such appearance.

Raymond Flower in his book, Raffles the Story of Singapore, mentions “Impressed Sri Tri Buana decided that if the island could breed such animals, it was a good place to settle in.”

The king then renamed the island to Singapura (singa meaning lion and pura meaning city in Malay language), brought in his support system of men and animals, colonizing the island and ruled it for 48 years till he died.

Merlion Statue Souvenir

Origin of Merlion – Interesting Facts

Merlion is a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. Its body symbolizes Singapore’s humble beginnings as a fishing village when it was called Temasek (meaning ‘lake’ in Malay and “fish town” in Javanese).

Its head represents Singapore’s original name, Singapura, or ‘lion city’ in Malay. For this reason small kids, fascinated by this mythical creature, call Singapore as Merlion Country. Other two nicknames of Singapore are: the Little Red Dot- refers to its size in world map and the City in Garden.

Today Merlion is the national symbol of the city-state of Singapore. There has been no presence of Lion in this island leave alone a Merlion, so the name is indeed intriguing and puzzling.

This Singapore icon was designed in 1964 for the Singapore Tourism Board and functioned as its logo from 1964 to 1997.

The iconic statues draw admirers of all ages. You can see tourists posing with the statue trying to gulp down the water flowing out of merlion’s mouth. The statue faces the east; according to the Feng Shui masters this is to preserve good luck. The spitting of water signifies endless spitting of money into the deep ocean of money – the Singapore River.

8.6m Merlion Singapore

Fraser-Bruner created the Merlion symbol which was trademarked in July 1966 to combine the country’s sea town origin and its nickname as the “Lion City”.

Interested in mythical creatures see: Turul Bird in Budapest, Basilisk in Basel

Merlion Architectural Details

Construction of Merlion went on from November 1971 to August 1972. It was crafted by the late Singaporean sculptor, Mr Lim Nang Seng and his 8 children. The sculpture measures 8.6m high and weighs 70 tons. There is a Merlion cub located near the original statue and measures just 2m tall.

Merlion Park is just a short walk from the Raffles Place MRT. The park is free to visit at any time of the day, but most tourists recommend visiting at night. I missed the night view of this magnificent structure.

7 Merlions of Singapore

Singapore Island has not one but seven huge statues of Merlions. Sentosa Island has its own Merlion, and then there are two of them in Merlion Park. Two are at the peak of Mount Faber and the STB headquarters near Grange Road. Both are 3m tall. The remaining two Merlions are a pair in the heartland, in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1. They were built in 1998 for $30,000 by the Ang Mo Kio Residents’ Committee.

Merlion cub Marina Bay

Tallest Merlion

37m tall Sentosa Merlion, the tallest in Singapore, was designed by Australian sculptor James Martin. It was built in 1995 at a cost of $8 million! Inside there are exhibits such as a three-dimensional animated story of how Sang Nila Utama discovered Singapore.

Japan’s Merlion

Did you know Japan too has a statue of Merlion that symbolizes the friendship between the two countries? Japan replicated the mythical creature in Hakodate Hokkaido’s third-largest city and Singapore. The height is 8.6m, same as the original statue in Merlion Park Singapore.

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Souvenirs from Around the World

In these times of no travel I look back pieces of memories I have collected from the various cities I have travelled to. Yes, I am talking about the souvenirs I have collected during travels. Allow me to transport you to another part of our beautiful world, another era, through the stories of origin of these keepsakes!

Souvenir, in simple words is defined as: a thing that is kept as a reminder of a person, place, or event. First recorded in 1775 as meaning “a remembrance or memory,” the noun souvenir stems from the French souvenir “to remember, come to mind.” A few years later, it took on the sense of “a token” of an event or experience. Opposite is Castaway. Do you collect souvenirs? Do you have a theme for collection? Let me know in comments below.