Fort Canning Park

Fort Canning Hill is the most historically dense piece of ground in Singapore. Fourteenth-century Malay royalty are believed to have had their seat here, Stamford Raffles built his residence on the summit in 1822, the British turned it into a fort, and in 1942 the underground command centre beneath it, the Battlebox, was where the decision to surrender Singapore to the Japanese was taken. Today it is a public park layered over all of that: a Gothic gate, an old Christian cemetery whose headstones are set into a wall, a spice garden replanted on the site of Raffles's experimental garden, and a sunken concrete stairwell ringed by palms that has become one of the most photographed spots in the city. The Battlebox is open as a museum on guided tours.

History

The Malays called it Bukit Larangan, the Forbidden Hill, believing the kings of ancient Singapura were buried here, and around 1330 the traveller Wang Dayuan described a settlement on it called Ban Zu. Raffles later built his residence on the hill, known as Government Hill until it was renamed Fort Canning in 1861, when a fort was built on it (Wikipedia, Fort Canning Hill).

What's there

• The Battlebox - the underground wartime command bunker, guided tours only.
• The tree tunnel stairwell - the sunken spiral stair framed by palms, the city's most photographed staircase.
• Fort Gate and the old cemetery - surviving nineteenth-century fortifications and headstone wall.
• The spice garden - a replanting of Raffles's experimental botanical garden.

When to go

Early morning for the stairwell photograph without a queue, and for the heat. The park is open at all hours and is a pleasant shortcut between the museum district and the river at any time.

Good to know

The famous stairwell attracts a genuine queue of people photographing each other, which is either amusing or annoying depending on the day. The hill is steep and the entrances involve stairs, so access is limited. The Battlebox is compelling but tours must be booked, and it can be uncomfortably close and warm underground.

Nearby

The National Museum of Singapore sits at the foot of the hill; Clarke Quay and the river are a short walk down.

Key facts