Haw Par Villa–Singapore’s Most Bizarre Theme Park

Feb 7, 2011 4 comments

Haw Par Villa, originally known as the Tiger Balm Gardens, is a Chinese mythological theme park in Singapore that is home to some of the freakiest and demented statues ever. The park contains over 1,000 statues and 150 giant dioramas depicting scenes from Chinese folklore, legends, history and illustrations of various aspects of Confucianism. From a statue of a woman nursing her father-in-law, to a statue of a woman’s head and face attached to the body of a crab, this place has it all.

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The Tiger Balm Gardens were built in 1937 by brothers Aw Boob Haw and Aw Boon Par as a way to celebrate Chinese culture. They later sold the park to the Singapore Tourism Board, who then renamed it Haw Par Villa (“Dragon World”) and replaced many of the most popular scenes with fairground rides.

Today, the Haw Par Villa is mostly empty, except for the occasional visitors who drop in to snap pictures and wonder at the disturbed minds behind the sculptures.

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Sources: 1, 2, 3

Comments

  1. I love it! Can't wait for the conference too, it's going to be great. And I'm 100% with you on the boob sweat. It's just plain unnecessary!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful,delicate,enigmatic. it's going to be great. And I'm 100% with you on the boob sweat. It's just plain unnecessary!

    ReplyDelete
  3. gee, who needs disney world?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am 44 and went there when I was 5 and I still remember it!

    ReplyDelete

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