Next Stop, Sir Stamford Raffles

This is the very cool Statue of Sir Stamford Raffles. xD It is located along the stretch of the Singapore river, just beside the old Parliament House and the Asian Civilisation Museum.

The statue of sir stamford raffles at singapore river is where people believed that he first set foot onto singapore . Sir stamford raffles is one of the most iconic person who was essential in turning singapore into how it is now . He was an employee of the British East India Company and he ventured towards Asia in search for a point along a major trading route . The singapore used to have a shore bank and that is where he supposedly landed.

The Parliament house. Old one or new one ??? o_o

Ok this is apparently the New Parliament House ._.

Story. =D

The Old Parliament House, now know as the Arts House at the Old Parliament was formerly home to the Parliament of SIngapore between 1965 to 1999. The old parliament house was completed in 1827 and was originally a Neo-Palladian building owned by a scottish merchant called John Argyle Maxwell. Sir Stamford Raffles requested for the building to be over so that it could be out to government use in 1823. The government leased the building for 500 rupees every month. In 1955 when David Marshall was elected, the building was renamed Parliament House in August 1965, when singapore gained independence.The building was made a national monument in 14 february 1992. On September 1999, the Parliament of Singapore moved into a new building which faces North Bridge Road.

Links:

• http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_836_2005-01-06.html

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Parliament_House,_Singapore

Coleman Bridge.

As you can see from the photo at the top of the blog, this cement bridge behind my group is called Coleman Bridge, named after its first designer George D. Coleman(1795-1944).

There are actually 3 different other Coleman Bridges built over each other over time due to their instability. The very first was built in 1840, made of bricks.

Subsequently in 1865, this bridge was replaced by one made of timber. But apparently, this wooden bridge was not well built. It had to be replaced by the a third Bridge in 1886, this time it was made out of iron.

Finally in 1986, the bridge was demolished as it could not cope with the increasing traffic going through it. A concrete bridge replaced it ever since, until now its still standing and functioning well. When the previous bridge was demolished, some of its features were incorporated into this latest bridge in recognition of its historical significance.