ROME!

By Tan, Bonny written on 2003-01-29National Library Board Singapore
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Sir Stamford Raffles' Statue, sculpted by Thomas Woolner, is a popular icon of Singapore. The statue depicts Raffles, standing tall, arms folded, with an aura of quiet assurance. It was installed on Jubilee Day on 27 June 1887 at the Padang and relocated to the Empress Place during the Centenary Celebrations on 6 February 1919. Sir Stamford Raffles' Statue, sculpted by Thomas Woolner, is a popular icon of Singapore. The statue depicts Raffles, standing tall, arms folded, with an aura of quiet assurance. It was installed on Jubilee Day on 27 June 1887 at the Padang and relocated to the Empress Place during the Centenary Celebrations on 6 February 1919. =--> Preview Content =-->Jubilee DayThe statue was the work of the famed sculptor-cum-poet Thomas Woolner. The blackened 8 ft figure in bronze was nicknamed orang besi or "iron man". The statue was unveiled by Sir Frederick Weld, then Governor of the Straits Settlements, on Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee Day on 27 June 1887. A little known detail was added by Woolner at the base of the statue. Here he had traced a map depicting the area around the Straits of Malacca and Raffles having his foot over British Malaya. The statue originally stood at the Padang, facing the sea, between St Andrew's Road and Connaught Drive. However, it was often struck by flying footballs or used as a seat for a vantage view of a field game at the Padang, so the authorities felt a more respectable location was required. Centenary CelebrationsThus, for Singapore's Centenary Celebrations, the statue was moved to the front of the Victoria Memorial Hall on 6 February 1919. A semi-circular colonnade of the Italian Doric order framed the statue and in front of it was laid a marble-lined pool with fountain jets. Two rows of flower vases around the pool added colour to the classical setting. The statue was placed such that it looked toward the assumed place of Raffles' original landing at the mouth of the Singapore River. It was also carefully positioned axially with the centre of the clock tower of the Victoria Hall. During this move, the base of the statue was found to be supported by a rod which went through one leg of the statue. The corrosion which occurred around it was duly repaired before the move. A tablet was placed at its plinth, recognising the special importance of Raffles in Singapore for the Centenary Celebrations. Raffles' Arms and the Knight's motto were engraved on a bronze shield placed at the base of the granite pedestal. A cast of the statue's head was also made for a bust to be located at the Raffles Museum and Library. This bust is not the same as the plastercast replica of Chantrey's bust of Raffles, which was also located at the Raffles Museum and Library.World War IIIn mid-September 1943, the statue was removed to the Syonan Museum (Raffles Museum). Some later suggested the Japanese had intentions to melt it for the war effort. Although report showed that the colonnade and flower vases remained intact during the Japanese Occupation, they were not to be found after liberation. However, the statue remained unmolested and was reinstalled at the Empress Place in 1946. DevelopmentsIn June 1953, during Queen Elizabeth's coronation celebrations, the fountains were started again for just this one time. However, the colonnades and the flower vases have never been replaced.Albert Winsemius, an economic advisor to Singapore in the 1960s, was credited for seeing that the statue stayed as a symbol of developed Singapore. According to Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, the statue would stand as a "symbol of public acceptance of the legacy of the British and could have a positive effect" in Singapore's future development. VariantsA plaster cast of the original was used to recast a polymarble copy which now stands at the side of Empress Place, marking what is believed to be Raffles' landing site. It was erected on the 150th anniversary of Singapore's founding. There is also another statue of Raffles at the Westminister Abbey, posed seated in a thoughtful stance.

Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles1781 - 1826
Thomas Stamford Raffles was born at sea on board a ship Ann on the 6th of July, 1781 off the coast of Jamaica. In 1795, the young man accepted his first job in the East India Company as a clerk. But he studied hard in his spare time and in 1804, was posted to Penang (then Prince of Wales Island) and promoted to Assistant Secretary to the Presidency of that Malaysian island. His mastery over the Malay language made him indispensable to the British Government, and he was later appointed Malay translator to the Government of India. In 1811, he returned as the Lieutenant Governor of Java, and was soon promoted to Governor of Bencoolen (now Sumatra). On 19th January, 1819, Raffles founded modern Singapore and first mooted the idea which led to the establishment of the Raffles Museum on the island.
Stamford Raffles was deeply fascinated by the immense diversity of strange animals and plants of the East Indies during his tenure there. He soon employed zoologists and botanists to discover all they can about the animals and plants of the region and would pay his assistants out of his own pockets to collect specimens. He also revived and became the president of the Batavian Society which was actively engaged in the study of natural history of Java and adjacent areas.
In her memoirs of him, his wife Lady Sophia Raffles, also mentions his zoological collection, among which were beautiful specimens of tapirs, rhinoceros and barking deer. She mentions that these were sent to England. Raffles also kept some animals as pets. A Sun Bear cub he reared with his children reportedly often joined him for dinner, eating mangoes and drinking champagne.
Raffles' principal assistant Abdullah, also his Malay tutor, was engaged in packing all the stuffed skins and skeletons which numbered some one-thousand specimens. Earlier, throughout his time in Java and Sumatra, Raffles had sent home many consignments of creatures preserved in spirit. Lady Raffles recalls that Raffles' interest in biology was great as evidenced by references to plants and animals in most of his letters. He had compiled a long list of animals of which, he believed nothing is yet known beyond the name and native descriptions.
On his return journey to England in 1824 on the ship Fame, he lost a huge consignment of plant and animal specimens, notes, papers and even certain drawings to a fire aboard. Upon his return, he founded the now world famous Zoological Society of London of which he was its first president, and the London Zoo.
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Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles passed away a day before his 45th birthday in 1826. A few years earlier, in 1821 and 1822, he contributed two papers in the Transactions of the Zoological Society, London, with descriptions of some 34 species of birds and 13 species of mammals, chiefly from Sumatra. Most of the new species he named are valid today, and these animals will continue to remind us of the contributions he has made. Animals named by Raffles himself include:

Dear Diary, I just went to the Victoria Memorial Hall today. It was a very beautiful place. I have never seen any thing grander than this. I was very impressed by th chiming clock which was donated by the Strait Trading Company in 1906. During the Japanese Occupation, the clock ran on Tokyo's time. A statue of Raffles, the wonderful founder of Singapore, stands with pride in front of the building. The building has a left and a right wing. The right wing was added only in 1905. This acted like a tribute to the Queen Victoria. When she passed away in 1901, Singapore, which was under the British colony, decided to build a memorial for her. The idea of the right wing was used - for people thought that it was much more special than just a wall. Hence, the right wing was built. Admiring the fabulous structure, I wondered inside the building. The floor was made of the expensive white marble. Classical music accompanied me while I walked through the long and quiet corridors. The lights were quite dim as they were halogen lights. ( an orange type of light)
One room had a huge model of the Victoria Memorial Hall Building. It was well- protected by a glass cover. My next destination was the theatre and concert hall. There were two big gates leading to the place. Unfortunately, the gates were locked and I could not get inside. Right in front of the Victoria Memorial Hall, I could see the Singapore Criket Club and a nice garden. There was also a huge bridge near the Benjamin Shears' Bridge. Altogether, the view was fabulous.
Well, that's all for that educational trip to the Victoria Memorial Hall. I really wish that there were such houses on sale in Singapore as I would really wish to live in a beautiful house like that. Got to sign off as it is already past midnight.

Julietz

Poem- Victoria theatre and Concert hall
_____________________________

Victoria Concert and Memorial Hall,
Inspired me as I walked along the lonely corridors;
The Concert Hall looked ready for a magnificent palace ball,
The setting was perfect, near the sandy white shores.
Of all the places I had gone, it was the most beautiful place of all.
Reading the plaques on the wall;
I felt as I if I were back in history,
A splendid place where all was a mystery.

Corridors of loneliness and dim lights
On the marble floor I started to dance;
Never have I realised what this place seemed,
Cosier it got when they started the Symphony band.
Extremely delighted was what I felt,
Recalling the past was like solving a mystery
Today, it was a place in history.

And in my mind,
Nurturing future generations of musicians
Distinctively is what this place will be Memorial Hall was the next place to which I went
Extraordinary place, really it was!
My heart was thumping as I was exploring3
Often along the corridors, I saw rooms
Really posh and nice they were
I felt like a princess in a palace
A large clock connects the two
Looming high above them.

Hall of fame, some might say
Also the house of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Let us appreciate somethin, one and all,
Let us enjoy Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall

QUEEN VICTORIA
_____________________

1819- Queen Victoria was born
1837- She inherited the throne
1840- She married Prince Albert
1861- Prince Albert died
1876- She was crowned Empress of India
1887- She celebrated the golden Jubilee of her reign
1897- She celebnrated the diamond jubilee of her reign
1901- She died on January 22 in Osborne.

Singapore Town Hall

The original building on this site, erected between 1856 and 1862, functioned as the Singapore Town Hall and later became the theatre; it was designed by John Bennett and it contained the Municipal Offices until 1893. In 1905, the Memorial Hall and tower, in the same style, were skillfully joined to the existing theatre by R.A.J Bidwell of Swan & Maclaren. The addition was made in the commemoration of the late Queen Victoria. In 1953-1954, the theatre was completely renovated and airconditioned and, between 1978 and 1980, both halls underwent further improvements. In 1979, a gallery was added to the Concert Hall, giving it a total seating capacity of 937. The additional work has been carried out in some sympathy with the character of the original buildings.
T.Woolner's sculpture of Sir Stamford Raffles, orginally unveiled on the Padang in 1587 by Frederick A.weld(on the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession), was moved to its present position in front of the halls and unvieled there by Sir arthur Young, the Governor during World War 1, on Centenary Day, 6 February 1919. It was surrounded by a semicular colonnade(in the Italian Renaissance style) and a pool. After the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942, the colonnade was destroyed and the statue removed to the National Museum(then the Raffles Museum), where it stayed untill the liberation.
The hall was officially opened by the Governor, Sir John anderson, on 18 October 1905 and the clock and the chime of bells in the tower were installed in 1906.
Bits and pieces of information...
The "Vic" was orginally designated as a Town Hall. The People's Action Party had its inaugural meeting in the hall on 21 November 1954. It was not until the seventies that Victoria Memorial Hall was renovated to serve as a concert hall.
The National safety First Council of singapore, as it was then called, was inaugurated on the 1st July 1966 at the victoria memorial Hall by Doctor Goh Keng Swee, the then Singapore's Minister of Defence.