Fort Canning Park

Today I decided I would be adventurous and go out on my own to see some sights in Singapore! Since we are in the city, there are tons of parks, shopping malls, places to eat...etc and I should take advantage of these places before Clark and I have to move out in the boonies some where!
Fort Canning Park is the most historic part of Singapore. It includes The Keramat Iskandar Syah (a burial ground), Archaeological Excavation Site, the Reservior, the Battle Box, the Spice Garden, and the Raffles House. I walked all around the park, sweating every second, until I finished! I didn't think Clark would like something like this so I decided it would be better to go while he was at work! Here is some historic info. , if you would like to know more about the Fort...if not, skip the reading and enjoy the pictures!

Around 1860, the colonial gov't turned the hill into a fort bearing the name of Viscount Charles John Canning. From that time until the 1970's, Fort Canning was used as a military base- first by the British, then by the Japanese during the Second World War, and lastly by the Republic's armed forces.

The Fort Gate, the adjoining wall and the Sally Port are all that remain of the fortress which occupied this hill from 1861 to 1926 when it was demolished to make way for the reservoir. The fort had 2 purposes: to protect Singapore from attack by sea, and to give Singapore's European population a refuge in case of local disturbances. A cannon was fired 3 times a day (at 5 a.m., 1 p.m. and 9 p.m.) in colonial times to announce the hour. Be sure to look behind the Fort Gate's massive wooden door for the narrow stairway leading to the roof.

The Spice Garden is the site of Raffles' original experimental and botanical garden, the brainchild of Nathaniel Wallich, a Dane who became superintendent of the Royal Gardens at Calcutta in 1815. He came to Singapore in 1882 and wrote to Raffles to recommend that a botanical and experimental garden be established.

The Battle Box is located some 9 metres underground, in one of the bunkers in Fort Canning Park. It was the largest military operations complex in Singapore and was part of the Malaya Command Headquarters during World War II. The facility is now managed by The Legends Fort Canning Park.

The Keramat Iskandar Syah, meaning "a sacred place" in Malay, a Keramat is the traditional burial ground of a revered leader. It is uncertain who was buried here, though some people believe this to be the resting place of Iskandar Syah, a ruler of Temasek. A 14th century-styled Malay roof called a "pendopo", supported by twenty wooden pillars carved in a fighting cock motif of Javanese origin, shelters this structure.