The Haw Par Villa

Posted by oceanskies79 under Heritage Sites and Trails
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The contributor of an online article (view the article) has made a noteworthy points on the reasons for visiting Haw Par Villa. To quote one of the reasons:

To congratulate its resilience to remain open and preserved till today. The fact that it has outlived the National Theatre, the Van Kleef Aquarium and even the Sentosa Ferry service, shows its importance in cultural and historical terms.

Opened in year 1937, Haw Par Villa, which remains open till today, can be considered to be resilient in withstanding the test of time.

About a few weeks ago, I took a bus and travelled to Haw Par Villa. Haw Par Villa was formerly known as Tiger Balm Garden. Actually, my intention was to visit the Hua Song Museum nearby, but it does not hurt to visit Haw Par Villa which was just very nearby.

Haw Par Villa has a rather interesting history behind how it first came about. It was built in 1937 by entrepreneur, Mr Aw Boon Haw, for his younger brother Mr Aw Boon Par. I think it is a display of brotherly love. This place is a nice place to visit for those of you who wishes to have an encounter with Chinese Mythology. For your convenience, I have consolidated a few links as seen below:

• Singapore Paranormal Investigators - The Myths of Haw Par Villa (Please read Page 1 of this site for more indepth description about the Haw Par Villa.)
• Singapore Mirror - Haw Par Villa
• Can.com.sg - 10 Reasons to Enter The Courts of Hell: Revisiting Haw Par Villa 28 Years Later
• Haw Par Villa by Jehpin Liew (One should read this if you take an interest in the Ten Courts of Hell. It has fantastic pictures of the Haw Par Villa too.)

I have visited it more than a decade ago. It was a Theme Park then. I remembered taking the roller coaster ride, and a boat ride through the Ten Courts of Hell. I could still vaguely remember the pre-recorded screams and moans that I had heard when I rode through the Ten Courts of Hell. Interestingly, someone decided to locate the exhibits of the Ten Courts of Hell within the body of a giant dragon-like structure. Being on the boat-ride then, I could not quite catch a good glimpse of the the exhibits. I merely heard the sound effects. In my recent trip to Haw Par Villa, I did not managed to find the time to visit the Ten Courts of Hell. This site offers a good description of the Ten Courts of Hell, click on the link please.

I remembered that more than a decade ago, admission charges into the park can be rather expensive. Reflecting, I shall be grateful that my father was willing to spend the money for the admission ticket for myself and my brother back then. Currently, there is no admission fee to visit the Haw Par Villa.

If you have been there, you may have wondered like I have, of how someone could be so rich to build this villa and have commissioned the making of the many statues in the park. I think it must have cost quite a fortune to build the villa, and more so, to have it maintained.

Each statue and work that is in the villa seems to have a story to tell.

The gesture of this statue represents the Chinese saying “Zhi Dian Mi Jin”, give advice to those who are lost. You will find this statue near the main entrance. Maybe its location is trying to imply that one will not be lost in the villa?


Confucius


The Laughing Buddha.


This work depicts the story of the Chinese folklore “Madame White Snake“.


One could also find larger size works like this in Haw Par Villa.




I think the memorial of Mr Aw Boon Par has an important place in this villa.


The memorial of Mr Aw Boon Haw.


I could simply not resist highlighting the contributions that these two brothers have made to the community of this region. You can see this near the main entrance of the villa.

It was a nice walk about the villa that afternoon. I did not spend too much time there however. Instead, I proceeded to the Hua Song Museum nearby after spending some time at the villa.

If you would like more glimpses of the villa, I think this URL that I have indicated earlier is worth your time to visit: http://www.jehpin.com/travel/singapore/hawpar/

I am interested to find out how people have experienced Haw Par Villa in the 1950s to 1970s. If you have visited it during those times, would you please care to share your experience? Thanks in advance.