Half lion, half fish, the Merlion began life as a 1964 tourism logo and now spouts water into Marina Bay from its own pier.
Aquarium curator Fraser Brunner drew the original logo: a fish body for Temasek, the old fishing settlement, and a lion head for Singapura. Local sculptor Lim Nang Seng built the statue, 8.6 metres tall and weighing 70 tonnes, and Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew unveiled it on 15 September 1972. For its first three decades it stood at the mouth of the Singapore River.
When the Esplanade Bridge blocked its view, the Merlion moved to a new pier on Marina Bay in 2002, in front of The Fullerton Hotel. Behind it sits a 2-metre cub inlaid with Chinese porcelain. Entry is free, and the 220-metre Jubilee Bridge, opened in 2015, carries you on to the Esplanade and the rest of the waterfront loop.
