Fascination with The Merlion

And so the search for "The Merlion" began . . .

Since Day 1, we were looking for the original Merlion that my sister used to remember. Hahah, after so many discussions and miles of walking, we were able to locate it, fortunately, before we left beautiful Singapore.

This is the 2-m cub statue, behind is the original statue at Merlion Park.

This is the original (8.6-m) statue at Merlion Park at marina Bay. It's a must that I get a shot of it.

This is the 37-m gigantic replica, at the bottom, the Merlion shop plus my sister (5 ft), ecstatic at her find.

The Merlion at Sentosa Island has viewing decks at its mouth and at the top of its head.

The 3-m poly marble Merlion statue at Mount Faber.

The Merlion (Malay: Singa-Laut) is an imaginary creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish, used as a mascot of Singapore. Its name combines "mer" meaning the sea and "lion". The fish body comes from Singapore's ancient name back when it was a fishing village — Temasek — meaning "sea town" in Javanese. The lion head represents Singapore's original name — Singapura — meaning "lion city" or "kota singa".

The symbol was designed by Fraser Brunner, a member of the Souvenir Committee and curator of the Van Kleef Aquarium, for the logo of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in use from 26 March 1964 to 1997. The Merlion continues to be its trademark symbol since 20 July 1966.

These five (5) Merlions in Singapore are the only ones recognized by the STB::

(1) The original (8.6-m tall) statue at Merlion Park
(2) The 2-meter tall cub statue standing behind the original statue
(3) The 37-meter 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
(4) The three-meter tall glazed poly marble statue at Tourism Court (near Grange Road) completed in 1995
(5) The three-meter tall poly marble statue placed on Mount Faber's Faber Point

In addition a recognized Merlion statue is found at the Merlion Restaurant in Cupertino in California, USA.

Source: Wikipedia