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Singapore City

General Information about Singapore City

With a total area of only 707.1 square kilometres, Singapore is the smallest country in Southeast Asia, and also one of the last remaining city-states in the world. Surrounding the mouth of the Singapore River is the Downtown Core, the main part of the city of Singapore. This was originally a small Malay fishing village but was established as a trading post by the British East India Company in 1819. Today Singapore has a population of just over 4.59 million people.

Singapore's Downtown Core houses many administrative buildings of importance incluing Parliament House, the Supreme Court and City Hall. Raffles Place is also situated in the Downtown Core and is where many of Singapore's famous landmarks and buildings are located, including The Fullerton Singapore, the Merlion and the Esplanade Theatre.

The Merlion, one of the most well-known landmarks of Singapore, is a statue comprised of the head of a lion and the body of a fish. The Merlion was designed in 1964 for the Singapore Tourism Board and remained the company's logo until 1997. It is still seen as a trademark of the company. The Merlion was originally located at the mouth of the Singapore River but was moved to it's current location fronting the Marina Bay in 2002. The statue weighs 70 tons and stands at 8.6 metres high. A taller replica of the Merlion is located on Sentosa Island.

Situated across from the Singapore River in Raffles Place is the Parliament House of Singapore. Planning started in 1989 and construction on the building began in the mid 1990's. The prism-shaped top of the building was designed by Ong Teng Cheong, former President of Singapore, ad a moderist take on a traditional dome. This Parliament House replaced the Old Parliament House of Singapore in 1999 and was officially opened with a simple ceremony in the foyer with the unveiling of a stainless steel plaque.

Singapore City Photo Gallery

Raffles Hotel	Singapore Esplanade	Singapore Merlion	Singapore Flyer
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