Singapore stone

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Singapore Stone ( English Singapore Stone ) is a fragment of a large rock sandstone with ancient inscriptions, which was discovered in 1819 and destroyed the 1,843th The rock was at the mouth of the Singapore River in Marina Bay , a little north of today's Fullerton Hotel , near the Anderson Bridge . According to historians, the inscription, which could not have been deciphered, could have provided information about Singapore's early past. The Singapore Stone is on display at the National Museum of Singapore today .

history

In June 1819, just a few months after Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founded Singapore , workers discovered the rock while cutting down trees at the mouth of the Singapore River. It was made of sandstone and was about 3 m high and about 3 m in diameter. The inscription comprised about 50 lines, but was partially illegible and could not be deciphered. Mostly Sanskrit is assumed, which suggests that the island was an extension of the Majapahit Empire . It is therefore dated between the 12th and 14th centuries.

In 1843 the rock was destroyed. The rock was blown up to make way for an extension of Fort Fullerton (a predecessor of the Fullerton Hotel). Lieutenant-Colonel James Low, who arrived at the scene shortly after the detonation, was able to secure some fragments with inscriptions. Three of these were sent to the Museum of the Royal Asiatic Society in Calcutta (now the Indian Museum ) for analysis and arrived there in June 1848. In 1918, the Raffles Library and Museum (now the National Museum of Singapore) asked for the fragments to be returned. One fragment - the Singapore Stone - was sent back in 1919 and is on display in the museum today. The exact whereabouts of the other two fragments is unclear, but it is believed to be in the storerooms of the museum in Calcutta.

additional

Legend has it that the legendary Badang threw the rock from Fort Canning Hill onto the banks of the Singapore River.

The Merlion statue, inaugurated in 1972 , originally stood near where the rock was located. After the construction of the Esplanade Bridge , which was completed in 1997, the view from Marina Bay to the statue was restricted, so the statue was relocated. It has been at its current location, east of the Fullerton Hotel, since April 2002.

gallery

  • Photo of the Singapore Stone

  • Drawings of the three fragments collected by Low

  • View of The Fullerton Hotel (north side) and Anderson Bridge - near the ledge on the left was roughly the location of the rock.

  • National Museum of Singapore where the stone is on display.

  • Allusion to the legend of Badang during the 2016 National Day Parade

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Singapore Stone. In: Singapore Infopedia. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  2. ↑ a b John N. Miskic: Singapore & the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300-1800. NUS Press, Singapore 2013, ISBN 978-9971-69-558-3 , pp. 12-15. (books.google.de)
  3. ^ Badang The Magnificent. Roots.sg. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  4. ↑ Merlion Singapore Pathfinder. Retrieved November 17, 2019.