“My favorite place in Singapore is undoubtedly Haw Par Villa”, as I read today on the blog of a Belgian woman who lives here. Well, I totally agree with her!
What a park! We visited last Sunday and I have photographed like crazy. It was ‘Oh’ and ‘Ah’ all the time.
The number of statues reaches the 1000 and the level of quirky, kitsch, bizarre and wonderful is sky high!
As a lover of kitsch, follies and outsider-art/art brut ofcourse entirely my cup of tea …! 😉
The sculpture garden was created in 1937 by the Tiger Balm brothers. After they earned a fortune with their world famous herbal balm, the brothers decided that they should give back to the people and decided to build a huge park around their house, dedicated to Chinese myths, legends and values.
In 1979 the family sold the estate to the Singapore Tourism Board.
The kitschy park contains more than a thousand large, colorful images and 150 giant dioramas or tableaux representing major characters in Chinese mythology. The battle between good and evil is portrayed as well as scenes from Chinese folklore, legends, history and aspects of Confucianism.
The most frightening part is The Ten Courts of Hell. In there is cruelly portrayed what punishments are given for various sins in the hereafter.
It was a huge success in the first decades after the opening. Unfortunately it’s fallen out of grace over the years.
At present, fortunately there are renovations and repairs all the time. It is quite well maintained, the last years.
Haw Par Villa is also mentioned in the Taschen book ‘Fantasy Worlds’.
I have compiled a photoset on my Flickr. If you click on the url below you get to the set of my Haw Par Villa visit.
What a park! We visited last Sunday and I have photographed like crazy. It was ‘Oh’ and ‘Ah’ all the time.
The number of statues reaches the 1000 and the level of quirky, kitsch, bizarre and wonderful is sky high!
As a lover of kitsch, follies and outsider-art/art brut ofcourse entirely my cup of tea …! 😉
The sculpture garden was created in 1937 by the Tiger Balm brothers. After they earned a fortune with their world famous herbal balm, the brothers decided that they should give back to the people and decided to build a huge park around their house, dedicated to Chinese myths, legends and values.
In 1979 the family sold the estate to the Singapore Tourism Board.
The kitschy park contains more than a thousand large, colorful images and 150 giant dioramas or tableaux representing major characters in Chinese mythology. The battle between good and evil is portrayed as well as scenes from Chinese folklore, legends, history and aspects of Confucianism.
The most frightening part is The Ten Courts of Hell. In there is cruelly portrayed what punishments are given for various sins in the hereafter.
It was a huge success in the first decades after the opening. Unfortunately it’s fallen out of grace over the years.
At present, fortunately there are renovations and repairs all the time. It is quite well maintained, the last years.
Haw Par Villa is also mentioned in the Taschen book ‘Fantasy Worlds’.
I have compiled a photoset on my Flickr. If you click on the url below you get to the set of my Haw Par Villa visit.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tangobabe1/sets/72157622834279328/
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