SINGAPORE - The funding for the upkeep of monuments is being doubled, and the scope of maintenance works covered by the National Monuments Fund is being expanded, the National Heritage Board (NHB) said on Thursday (June 8).
This year, a total of $2.2 million will be given to 17 national monuments. Of this, about $200,000 will go into co-funding maintenance works of 16 monuments.
Additionally, the fund will now be used to include maintenance works for lightning protection, the removal of vegetation close to the monument to prevent damage and arborist reports to support this removal.
A national monument is one of national importance that also has historic, cultural, traditional, archaeological, architectural, artistic or symbolic significance.
Here is a look back at some of Singapore's monuments.
1. How a national monument is born
A quick look at who decides what building is worth gazetting and how it is decided.
2. Jurong Town Hall 'a baby' among national monument
The last building to be gazetted a national monument was the Jurong Town Hall, which received its status on June 3 this year.
It is the youngest building on the list of 70 monuments, being just 40 years old.
3. Growing up in a historic monument
The Istana Kampong Gelam was declared a national monument on Aug 7 this year. The Straits Times interviewed Mr Tengku Shawal, the seventh-generation descendant of Sultan Hussein Shah, who grew up in the former palace.
The building is now home to the Malay Heritage Centre.
4. Alkaff Upper Serangoon Mosque gazetted as national monument
This 85-year-old mosque was one of two mosques built by the Alkaff family.
The family, one of the earliest Arabs to arrive in Singapore, also established the Alkaff Kampong Melayu Mosque at Bedok Reservoir Road.
The mosque, which underwent a $3.1-million restoration, won the Urban Redevelopment Authority's Architectural Heritage Award in October this year.
5. Sri Thendayuthapani Temple joins 66 others on list of Singapore's national monuments
The temple at Tank Road, which dates back to 1859, was declared a national monument in October last year.
It joined two other Hindu temples on the national monuments list. The other two are the Sri Perumal temple and the Sri Mariamman temple.
This story also contains a full list of the national monuments and the years in which they were gazetted.
6. Chung Cheng celebrates 75th anniversary
Chung Cheng High was gazetted in July last year, when the school celebrated its 75th birthday.
Here are 10 things about the school.
7. Civilian War Memorial gazetted under newly named division
The Civilian War Memorial was the first structure to be gazetted in August 2013, after the Preservation of Monuments Board was renamed the Preservation of Sites and Monuments division.
The structure is dedicated to the memory of civilians who died during the Japanese Occupation in Singapore from 1942 to 1945.
8. Tanjong Pagar station a national monument
The former Tanjong Pagar Railway Station was gazetted in April 2011.
Train services to Malaysia from the station ended in July that year.
The station, which opened in 1932, was designed by architecture firm Swan & Maclaren.
9. Singapore Conference Hall a national monument
The Singapore Conference Hall is the first post-colonial building to be gazetted a national monument.
This bumper crop announcement also included the gazetting of three memorials in Esplanade Park - the Lim Bo Seng Memorial, the Tan Kim Seng Fountain and the Cenotaph.
The three memorials are considered one monument.
