Home of the legendary Singapore Sling, named after the founder of modern Singapore, witness to two world wars, this building stands as a testament to the amazing success story that is Singapore. You’ll find some mention of it on any Singapore Tourism Guide. And to think it was conceptualized by two Armenian brothers, the land leased out by a Chinese entrepreneur and an Arab trader & philanthropist and designed by an English architect!
Sir Stamford Raffles Statue
It’s been a hundred and twenty five since the Raffles (after Sir Stamford Raffles) hotel threw open its doors. It soon became - and remains to this day - the most fabled hotel in the Far East, with a guest list that would put your athenaeum to shame: Ernest Hemingway, Somerset Maugham and Rudyard Kipling sitting in the Long Bar sipping on Singapore Slings, you can’t beat that. Singapore’s go to place to experience colonial luxury and glamour, it opened with 10 rooms in an old bungalow-style building overlooking the beach and the South China Sea.
Singapore’s colonial luxury and glamour
The Great Depression was kind of a bummer for the hotel, but then again, it was a bummer for a whole lot of businesses. They managed to sort things out and a public company called Raffles Hotel Ltd. was established in 1933.
The Jap Invasion
The Japanese occupied Singapore on February 15th, 1942. One popular story goes to say that when the Japanese soldiers breached the hotel, they encountered the Raffles’ guests dancing one final waltz. They took over the hotel and even renamed it to Syonan Ryokan; Syonan, the Japanese name for occupied Singapore “Light of the South” and Ryoken being the name for a traditional Japanese inn. At the end of the war, the hotel was used as a transit camp for prisoners of war.
Japanese Invasion of Singapore
In 1987, the Singapore government declared the hotel a National Monument. And then it underwent major renovation before it was transformed into its present day avatar. The Raffles Group now own and operate a number of properties worldwide; the original remains an iconic structure of Singapore tourism.
Keep the Raffles hotel in mind when you book your Singapore Tour Package. If you can’t afford to stay there, make it for a meal or definitely for a Singapore Sling! The drink was first concocted by Nigiam Tong Boon, one of the Long Bar’s first bartenders.
Must Read: 10 Fun things to know about Singapore
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Revisions
- 13 November, 2013 @ 6:29 [Current Revision] by Shivangi Rajendran
- 29 June, 2013 @ 5:31 by Shivangi Rajendran
