Everything About Thian Hock Keng In Singapore That You Need To Know

The Thian Hock Keng temple stands out and is a must-visit for travelers seeking to understand the local culture and its social significance. For those looking to explore the best of Singapore’s attractions, including iconic temples like Thian Hock Keng, opting for a comprehensive Singapore tour packages would ensure a fulfilling and immersive experience.

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Thian Hock Keng Temple in Singapore

Thian Hock Keng Temple or the Tianfu temple is one of the must-visit places in Singapore. The name of the temple translates to A Palace of heavenly happiness. Being one of the Chinatown’s ancient temples, the people built this for the worship of Mazu, a sea goddess. From Scottish gates to Dutch tiles, everything about this temple is admiring. Also, the seafarers and immigrants who reach Singapore from other parts of the world by a sea passage choose this as their major landing point. They even used to thank Mazu for their safe travel. This temple has many amazing things to make people visit which mainly is because of its architecture.

Also read: 10 Interesting Things To Do In Chinatown in Singapore

History

Dating back to the 19th century when the Singapore government offered help to Chinese people with jobs. This was one of the main reasons that Singapore was flooded with Chinese. When they wanted a place to worship, these people themselves started collecting funds and built the temple all by themselves. The construction started in 1832 and ended in 1942, with the statue of Mazu imported from China, as the main goddess.

Architecture

Thian Hock Keng Temple in Singapore has Southern-Chinese architecture. The temple has three halls – an entrance hall, the main hall and a rear hall. The architecture at the ceiling in the entrance and main hall will have many dragons and motifs as the main attraction of this temple is dragons. The entrance hall will also Buddhist Swastika designs spreading good luck. However, to represent Singapore’s Hokkien culture, the temple throughout is filled with red coloured lights.

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The main rooftop is in octagonal shape with beautiful gold finish. On the left side of Pagoda, you will be able to see the Confucius and on the right side, you will find tablets of people who founded the temple. Also about the tiles in the temple, it is beautifully decorated with patterns of dragons and Phoenixes. Since many of them belonged to Fuji decent, this temple has Fuji influenced architecture as a part.

One interesting fact: The construction of this temple did not even include a single nail.

The Goddess, Mazu

Mazu is a Chinese goddess worshipped throughout Southeast Asia majorly by seafarers, fishermen and sailors. In addition, people believe that Mazu wanders around the seas and safeguarding her worshippers. Mazu is most popularly celebrated at Dajia and Beigang in Taiwan.

Temple tour

The tour should be pre-booked and it is open to tourists, school students during events like Chinese new year, Mazu’s birthday and many more. Taking this temple tour is one way of deeply diving into the complete history, customs and architecture of it.

How to reach Thian Hock Keng in Singapore

There are two major ways of reaching the temple:

By Bus: You can take bus number 970 or 186 and reach the bus stop on the temple’s name itself and you will find the temple at a three minutes walk away.

By MRT: Reach Telok Ayer MRT Station, Exit A and walk for two minutes to reach the temple.

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Temples are one of the calmest places to visit to soothe your soul. And, architectures are one way of falling in love with the attraction. Won’t it be worth visiting to visit a temple is of amazing architectural importance? If your answer is yes, you should really have to consider planning a visit to Thian Hock Keng while you are making it to Singapore. Check out the Singapore tour packages offered by Pickyourtrail and experience the divine beauty.