Fort Canning Hill

On a small hill in Singapore’s bustling downtown lies Fort Canning Park, a historic landmark that is home to WWII museum, an archeological dig, a spice garden, shaded pathways, lush lawns, restaurants, and a hotel. Fort Canning Hill: Exploring Singapore’s Heritage and Nature pays tribute to the fascinating roots and multi-faceted personality of this hill.

In many ways, the story of Fort Canning Park parallels the transformation of Singapore from a sleepy fishing village to a vibrant, cosmopolitan city. During the 14th century, Malay royalty lived atop this hill and five centuries later, the British developed a fort here. This was also the place where the British surrendered to Japanese during World War Two.

Fort Canning Hill: Exploring Singapore’s Heritage and Nature presents a holistic journey through the park. Besides uncovering its military, architectural, trading, and natural heritage, the authors Jyoti Angresh and Melissa Diagana also take an intriguing look into its previous inhabitants, the diverse botanical life and surrounding heritage spots near the hill. This book also explores its social relevance in contemporary times – besides attracting nature lovers, fitness enthusiasts and artists, it has also evolved to a cultural destination and is a venue for many exhibitions and performance art events.

It is the first publication to focus on Fort Canning Park, and rightly places this humble hill as one of Singapore’s most captivating destinations.