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Historical places of worship in Singapore
While poking around the Uniquely Singapore website, I noticed that there were a lot more historical places of worship in Singapore than I had thought - and some of them were very old.
Here's a listing of the places of worship sorted chronologically, together with a cute fact and photo of each place.
Where several buildings were built over each other, dates given indicate completion of a building on the site substantively similar to what we see today (in cases like Sri Mariamman, I have used my own judgment). Dates in brackets indicate the date of the current building (when a rebuilding has taken place):
1821 - Thian Hock Keng Temple
Taoist: Ma Zu [Goddess of the Sea], Telok Ayer Street
(Source)
The Qing Emperor Guang Xu presented this temple with a plaque in 1907.
1826 - Jamae Chulia Mosque
South Bridge Road
(Source)
This mosque is in Chinatown.
1835 - Armenian Church
Orthodox Christian: St Gregory the Illuminator, Hill Street
(Source)
"This small but elegant building does great credit to the public spirit and religious feeling of the Armenians of this settlement; for we believe that few instances could be shewn where so small a community have contributed funds sufficient for the erection of a similar edifice.... the Armenian Church is one of the most ornate and best-finished pieces of architecture that this settlement can boast of." - Singapore Free Press, 1836
1843-1847 - The Cathedral of the Good Shepherd
Roman Catholic, Queen Street
(Source)
"In the early days of the colony, the Portuguese Mission thought itself the fount of the Holy Roman Empire’s presence on the island, and so the French bishop was reduced to holding services at the home of a Mr. McSwiney on Bras Basah Road, a dissenting Portuguese priest held forth at a certain Dr. d’Ameida’s residence, and the Spanish priest was so reduced that we don’t even know where he held his services. These folks were none too pleased with their makeshift houses of worship and so banded together to establish their own cathedral—the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd." - Frommer's Singapore & Malaysia / Jennifer Eveland (2007)
1827 (1843) - Sri Mariamman Temple
Hindu, South Bridge Road
(Source)
Naraina Pillai, who got the idea to build this place, set up the first brick kiln in Singapore.
1846 - Hajjah Fatimah Mosque
Beach Road
(Source)
This is one of two mosques in Singapore to be named after a woman (don't ask me what the other is).
1856 - St Andrew's Cathedral
Anglican, Coleman Street
(Source)
Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim was inspired by the case of the pilgrim ship Jeddah. At the age of 30, its first mate, George Augustine Podmore Williams, married a 16 year old girl in 1883 in the cathedral (hey, this counts for as much as Beckham's training in Singapore!)
1859 (1983) - Sri Thandayuthapani Temple (Chettiar Temple)
Tank Road
(Source)
Women can't carry kevadis (the Thaipusam objects) because they can't reveal their bodies to be pierced.
1876 - Tan Si Chong Su Temple
Magazine Road
(Source: Singapore: A Pictorial History 1819-2000 / Gretchen Liu [2001])
You can see the ceremonies of the Festival of the Monkey God here.
1878 - Maghain Aboth Synagogue
Waterloo Street
(Source)
The synagogue was consecreated with Torah scrolls from Baghdad.
In place of a photo, here's another cute fact: "There are no outlets in Singapore that offer kosher food" (Not Just a Good Food Guide Singapore: Singapore / Naleeza Ebrahim, Yaw Yan Yee [2007])
1881 - Veeramakaliamman Temple
Hindu: Kali, Serangoon Road
(Source)
See Kali disemboweling victims inside.
1908 - Lian Shan Shuang Lin Temple
Buddhist, Jalan Toa Payoh
(Source)
The Suzhou-style rock garden was given to them by the Tourist Promotion Board (maybe because their land got stolen for HDB development).
1910 - Abdul Gaffoor Mosque
Dunlop Street
(Source)
Everyone says this place is boring and unremarkable.
1912 - St Joseph's Church
Roman Catholic, Victoria Street
(Source)
The original church was paid for by the Portuguese mission and the King of Portugal.
1925 - Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church
Guess the street
(Source)
Dr Benjamin West, who was based at the church (before it moved to Telok Ayer) preached in Malay, which was translated into Hokkien.
1927 - Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple
Race Course Road
(Source)
There is a wheel of fortune inside where for $0.50 you can take a spin.
1929 (2003) - Sri Senpaga Vinayagar Temple
Ceylon Road
(Source)
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Nulla imperdiet sem posuere dui. Donec velit ante, aliquam quis, ultrices ac, laoreet vel, metus."
1928 - Sultan Mosque
Muscat Street
(Source)
The mosque was designed by Denis Santry, an Irish guy.
And I am told that Sultan Mosque is the only mosque in Singapore which is allowed to broadcast the call to prayer out loud.
The listing of places of worship was taken from the Uniquely Singapore website, and information on them is from all over.
There're a few more old places of worship in Singapore - just pick up a guidebook to find out more. After this poking around, I see what The Cock means by it being fun to be a tourist in your city for one day, and am ever more convinced that asking a local is not necessarily the best way to explore a place.
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There's also a hilariously-named section of the Uniquely Singapore website called "Ask a Singaporean" (a FAQ).
The effect is kind of lost though, since the answers, while more intimate than what you'd expect from a corporate site, still lack that personal touch.
It doesn't help that there is no hint of the "Singaporean" answering your questions, like a photo or a name, or that there is no link to ask a Singaporean a question of your own.
Other notes:
- If you visit the site on another subdomain (e.g. us.visitsingapore.com, you get a Google Maps API Key error. Someone didn't do proper testing, tsk tsk)
- Their Feedback form is down and there's no email to send suggestions to (what a Catch-22 - I can't tell them their feedback form is down!)
