The Eiffel Tower. The Taj Mahal. The Great Wall of China. We all know these famous Monuments, but how well do we know the National Monuments in our own backyard, Singapore?

Whether you are a history buff or someone who just walks past them everyday, National Monuments are an important part of the Singapore landscape. Recently, The History Workroom has been involved in researching and writing an education kit on Singapore’s 61 National Monuments. Commissioned and produced by the Preservation of Monuments Board (PMB), the kit can be downloaded for free at the PMB website.

3 great reasons to download and read this kit:
-    Be Kiasu – This kit is the only publication to have basic information on all 61 National Monuments currently gazetted.

-    Increase your knowledge. Find out interesting stories and information nuggets about the monuments. For example: Did you know Low Kim Pong  built the Siong Lim Temple because of a dream? Learn how to recognise different architectural styles such as the Neo-classical, Neo-gothic and Art Deco, commonly used in colonial buildings

-    Get ideas for holiday activities for children or young adults. With the easy and educational ideas and activities (with ready-to-use sheets) in this kit, you will have hours of fun visiting the monuments and learning more about them.

State-legislated conservation programmes are not just simply about labelling buildings “heritage buildings” to be conserved.

From Malaysia’s The Star.

Penang heritage building owners destroying building values

By K. KASTURI DEWI

GEORGE TOWN: Heritage building owners in George Town are destroying the historical value of their buildings at a “worrying” rate and, if left unchecked, the entire face of the city will be transformed within two years.

State Exco member Chow Kon Yeow said a total of 57 heritage building owners had violated heritage buildings guidelines between December last year and January this year.

“Most of them had carried out illegal extensions while others had not applied for permits to repair their buildings,” he told a press conference on the official launch of the conservation information counter at the World Heritage office in Lebuh Armenia Monday.

Chow said the state government together with the Penang Municipal Council and the World Heritage Office (WHO) had taken immediate steps to check why owners were not complying with the guidelines.

He said among the measures taken was to hold roundtable talks with all the relevant parties such as the owners, contractors, renovators and even property brokers.

“A series of five roundtable talks on development plans, proposal and control, licensing, enforcement, utilities and a roundup to present the concrete proposals will be held until March 22.

“We are also putting the mechanism into place to check the situation from worsening by looking into empowering a special task force which was set up in January to issue 24-hour stop work order on owners who do not comply with the heritage guidelines when repairing or renovating their buildings,” he said.

The task force dedicated to monitoring world heritage sites in George Town comprises of six personnel from the council’s enforcement, building, planning and engineering departments who are on the ground daily.

Currently the council could only issue a stop work order after giving the building owners a grace period of about 14 days.

“Most of the times however, within these 14 days the whole building is torn down and it is too late for us to save it,” he said.

WHO head Maimunah Mohd Sharif who was also present said the WHO, its committee together with council’s heritage unit would take to the streets to talk to residents to explain the need to comply with heritage guidelines when renovating or repairing their buildings.

“The pilot project which will start this month is part of the state, WHO and the council’s efforts to educate and to reach out to all parties to play their part in conserving the heritage aspect of their buildings,” she said.

She added that WHO was working with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in conservation of buildings to draw up an inventory of suppliers of materials and contractors of heritage buildings.

Maimunah urged owners to seek advise from WHO on how they could repair and renovate their buildings in compliance with the guidelines set.

The WHO’s conservation information counter which will be launched on March 6 is from 9am to noon from Mondays to Fridays and on every first Saturday of the month.

For appointments, contact 04-2616606.

When I saw the news about bits of the Berlin Wall installed in Singapore’s very own Bedok, I was first bemused then confused and somewhat uncertain.

The intellectual in me screams – decontextualised history! With bits of the wall, hauled outside its ‘original’ site, encased in a glass case – essentially objectified, it’s totally decontextualised. How much of what Foreign Minister George Yeo said is “an icon for reflection about history, about the human condition, about how we treat fellow human beings” will be translated in such situation?

True, not everyone can afford to go to historic sites, which when turned into tourist attractions, lose all meanings too. Yet, are the meanings lost irrevocably when the object is divorced from its place?

The little idealist in me wants to believe that the installation can indeed inspire. Yet when the news finished with the item that a bistro has been planned as part of the installation and that it will be opened later, the sceptic in me nods. Meaning is lost.

P/S: the other bits of the Berlin Wall have been scattered all over the world too. You can find their location in the BBC map found in this earlier entry.

New media, most notably the Internet, has become an embedded part of our lives. From communication to entertainment, we use new media, consciously or otherwise. Now, it has been enlisted for educational purposes as well.

The Auschwitz Museum recently launched its own YouTube channel as part of its efforts to reach out to the younger generation and a wider audience. It has also started its own Facebook page.

This will no doubt keep the memories of the place alive, beyond the lives of those who was once, and still are, its victims.

Here’s another place to experience history – in the most literal sense – at a price, of course.