Singapore Botanic Gardens

Singapore's first botanical garden was set up by Sir Stamford Raffles at Fort Canning in 1822, but the present Gardens date from 1859, when an Agri-Horticultural Society laid out land in Tanglin in the English landscape style. The colonial government took over in 1874, and Kew-trained botanists turned the Gardens into a scientific institution; it has been a centre of plant research for Southeast Asia since 1875.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the Gardens tested and promoted Para rubber, helping the crop spread across the region and transform Malaya's economy. From 1928 the Gardens ran an orchid hybridisation programme using new laboratory techniques, which helped lay the foundations for Singapore's orchid growing.

On 4 July 2015 UNESCO inscribed the Gardens on the World Heritage List under criteria (ii) and (iv). It was the first tropical botanic garden on the list. Today the Gardens are managed by the National Parks Board.

The Gardens are part of daily life for many Singaporeans: tai chi groups and joggers at dawn, families with prams at weekends, couples posing for wedding photographs at the Bandstand and office workers taking an evening stroll. Orchids hold special meaning in Singapore, and the Orchid Garden is a point of pride as well as a scientific collection.