Fort Canning Hill

Fort Canning Park crowns a nearly fifty-metre hill at the heart of Singapore, known in Malay as Bukit Larangan, the forbidden hill. Its eighteen hectares hold some of the city's deepest history: the rulers of fourteenth-century Singapura are believed to have lived here long before Sir Stamford Raffles built his bungalow on the summit in 1822 and the British garrison turned the site into a stone fort in 1859. Below ground lies the Battle Box, the underground command bunker where, on 15 February 1942, the decision to surrender Singapore to the Japanese was taken; it is open today as a museum. A replanted spice garden, the old Christchurch gate and the present concert lawn add further layers. The park hosts open-air concerts and picnics in the shade of old rain trees.