Chimes of Singapore
In Singapore, one of the more interesting historic buildings to visit is Chijmes . Originally, the building complex was a convent and convent quarters known as the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (or CHIJ) and the Caldwell House. The Caldwell House was built in the central business district of Singapore in the downtown core in about 1840, approximately 170 years ago. The chapel was built much more recently, in 1904, just 106 years past. Today, the chapel is a hall used for various purposes, known as Chijmes Hall, and Caldwell House is now an art gallery; both structures have been declared national monuments, which house shops, restaurants, and entertainment centers. The hall is used often for theater, music, and, on occasion, weddings.
Those travelers with an interest in history will definitely want to make a stop at Chijmes after they’ve checked into their Singapore hotels . Once at the site, they’ll be able to appreciate the architecture and story of the building, which began when four nuns from France arrived in Singapore to establish a convent. They arrived in February of 1854 and lived in what is now the Caldwell House. The architecture of the Caldwell House was created by George Drumgoole Coleman in a Neoclassical style. The nuns began taking in students ten days after moving in, creating not simply a convent, but a school and orphanage, as well as a refuge center for women. The life of the convent was set down in diaries, kept in seven volumes by convent scribes. The diaries cover the history of the convent, from 1851 through 1971, handwritten in French. The diaries, known as Annales de Singapour, provide a detailed hundred years plus look at life in a convent.
When the Saint Nicholas Girls’ School began in 1933, it first held classes in bungalows that were a part of the Hotel Van Wijk, but they later moved to the convent in 1949. The school was moved again in 1985 to Ang Mo Kio. And the chapel itself quit functioning as a chapel on November 3, 1983, with the last religious service and the deconsecration of the church. Much later, taking five and a half years of restoration and construction, Chijmes is now as you may see it today: a plaza offering retail shops and restaurants, a kind of secular peaceful spot in the hub of Singapore.
Related posts:
- Showcase Singapore, a Bi-annual Exhibit
- Food and Fun in Singapore Mall
- Peranakan Culture in Singapore
- The Singapore Biennale
- ZoukOut Singapore
