Stretching out in front of you is the Padang, which means "field" in Malay. Since the 19th century it has been the city's great open space, and Singapore's history has been written along its edges.

On one side of the lawn stand two national monuments. The former City Hall, with its long colonnade, was built between 1926 and 1929. Beside it, the former Supreme Court, with its large dome, opened in 1939. Designed by Frank Dorrington Ward, it is often described as one of the last great classical buildings of the British Empire in Asia. Since 2015 the two have been joined under a canopy to form the National Gallery, home to the world's largest public collection of modern Southeast Asian art.

2The end of the war

Singapore fell to Japan in February 1942. Three and a half years of harsh occupation followed.

On 12 September 1945, in City Hall, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten accepted the formal surrender of the Japanese forces in Southeast Asia.

On 5 June 1959, Lee Kuan Yew and his cabinet were sworn in here as the first government with internal self-rule. Since then the Padang has hosted many National Day Parades.

3What to look for

  • The large dome of the former Supreme Court.
  • The steps of City Hall, scene of key moments in the nation's history.
  • The Singapore Cricket Club pavilion, at one end of the field.

Documented

The Japanese surrender was signed in the former City Hall on 12 September 1945; the Supreme Court opened in 1939 and the National Gallery opened in 2015.

Sources and credits

National Gallery Singapore (official website, history of the buildings); National Heritage Board, Roots.gov.sg, "The Padang" and "Former City Hall"; C. M. Turnbull, "A History of Modern Singapore, 1819-2005" (NUS Press, 2009).

Photos:

  • The National Gallery, the former City Hall and Supreme Court, facing the Padang: Uzoma Ozurumba, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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