We went to the famous Fullerton Hotel and then on to the Fullerton Heritage Trail. More about the Heritage trail later. Crossing the road we sighted what we had really come for, The Merlion, a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. The Merlion is used as a mascot 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 Merlion is the most important, the most famous and the most popular tourist site in Singapore. This one near the Marina Sands is the most famous. But, there are replicas in four other places in the city. The biggest and tallest one is at a park in Sentosa Island, south of the city.
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 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.
The merlion — 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.
