Fort Canning is a very special place as it is both a wartime memorial and a park in one. Located in the very downtown, nearby the famous shopping street, the Orchard, Fort Canning is the centre of both leisure time activities and war-trail tours. The beautiful park also gives place for contemporary artistic performances.
Fort Canning was established back in 1822 but at that time with a completely different role. First, it housed the residence of modern Singapore’s founder Sir Thomas Raffles that was in use until 1859 when it was transformed into being a fort, for some security reasons and from then on, it was housing military instalments with a military hospital. Having been rebuilt into being a park, today the most important sites of Fort Canning include the great scented Spice Garden having established as a miniature version of the huge Singapore Botanical Gardens delivering a great spicy smell all around the Park and the Battle Box being a Second World War site being 9 metres under the ground. It used to be the largest underground Military base of the British Army Malaya Forces during the times when Japanese occupied Singapore. The site treasures the replica of huge cannon and also, with the help of wax figures if you go underground, you will be taken back in history to the days then the Japanese occupation happened. Multimedia equipments and technology help this great presentation. For Canning is very popular for its hillside position, which means that it offers a superb view to the always-busy city of Singapore.
The Fort Canning Park earned his name after Viscount Charles John Canning the Governor-General and first Viceroy of India. In 1926, Fort Canning was named Canning Reservoir. It included an installation, which delivered drinking water into the homes of locals. The hill housing For Canning is also famous for giving home to Singapore’s first botanical garden, the very first lighthouse and the oldest cemetery of Singapore too. In the old days the place had been sacred called Keramat Iskandar Syah an ancient burial ground which was also supposed to be a ground, which held the palace of ancient kinds. It used to be a forbidden site that did not welcome visitors at all. Today, Fort Canning is a busy park with visitors of all sorts who would like to have a nice walk or a little rest over here. In some parts of the park, there are even outdoor exhibitions and the public can enjoy the performances of an open-air ballet too. The oldest memorial found here today dates back to the 14th century. Another part of the park houses the excavation work of archaeologists. Some of their best findings include relics date back to the time of the ancient Malay Kingdom. Most parts of the park though are beautifully green housing dozens of different trees and plants offering a great place to relax. Fort Canning Green hosts an old cemetery used to be a Christian cemetery site.
Fort Canning does not solely include good for the soul it also offers various restaurants for the physical hunger. As the Fort Canning Park is nearby the huge National Museum so visitors of the museum often come, go and look around and have a rest in the Fort Canning.