Why a Merlion is called a Merlion ?

The iconic Merlion statue is located at the Merlion Park and it is one of the major tourist attractions in Singapore. If you ever Google “list of tourist attractions in Singapore” then Merlion would definitely boats its position in the top three spots.

Only if I was a little more of a photographer I would have captured the whole of the Marina Bay Sands hotel in the picture. Nevertheless not a bad click for an amateur.

Merlion Park is a great spot to click postcard photos during your Singapore visit. The place is always very crowded and you would definitely spot some top notch cameras with giant lenses.

While doing my research on various tourist attractions in Singapore, the name Merlion was stuck in my head. I wondered why is was called a Merlion and not something else. I am sure the thought must have crossed your head too. I will unveil the trivia behind it.

The Merlion is considered as a national embodiment of Singapore. Merlion is composed of two words “Mer” and “Lion” where “Mer” refers to the sea and “Lion” is the same Lion that you know. Now if you closely look the Merlion’s statue you can easily see that it has a head of Lion and the lower body of a fish or mermaid. The lower fish body of the Merlion denotes the origin of Singapore as a fishing village, back then it was called “Temasek” which means Sea Town. The lion head depicts Singapore’s authenticity as its original name was “Singapura” which means Lion City. Doesn’t it explains it all.

Check out some of the photos that I clicked when I visited the Merlion Park

This is what I just mentioned, see the head of a lion and a lower body of a gentle fish. Can you see how neatly the scales of the lower body have been crafted. That is called some precision.

Can you see all the giant companies standing tall at the behind. There is a reason why is called to be located at Central Business District.

And that is me smiling all ear to ear and posing with the amazing Merlion.

Some more facts about Merlion in Singapore:

• Merlion Park is located at One Fullerton near the Central Business District.
• Merlion Park has two Merlion statues, the main statue is 8.6 meters tall while the other one is just 2 meters tall.
• A good time to visit Merlion Park would be in the mornings, that’s when the it is less crowded and you can easily get your perfect shot.
• There is no fee charged for entering the photography area which is basically a deck along the Merlion Statue.
• Merlion was also the official symbol for Singapore Tourism for a long time, later it got changed to another symbol.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. If yes give a shout.

Till then keep travelling and keep blogging !!

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