President Halimah Yacob hosted Istana 150 Commemorative Event

President Halimah and Mr Mohamed Abdullah Alhabshee hosted close to 2,000 visitors at the Istana 150 Commemorative Event on Sunday, 6 October 2019.

The finale of a year-long commemoration of the Istana’s 150^th anniversary, the event was the first time that the Istana was open to members of public at night. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong also attended the event as invited guests.

Visitors to the Istana 150 Commemorative Event were treated to a scintillating lightshow projected on the Istana Main Building façade, as well as a series of live performances by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and other local talents such as Chloe Chua, 53A, Clement Chow, Rahimah Rahim, Tay Kewei and Nick Zavior, MICappella and CAMOKAKIS.

Response to the event was overwhelmingly positive, with tickets fully subscribed within six hours when they were first made available to the public on 13 September 2019.

On 4 October 2019, President Halimah also hosted a special preview of the lightshow for some President’s Challenge beneficiaries, who had earlier contributed to the Istana 150 commemoration.

Record Visitorship for 2019 Istana Open Houses

This year as we commemorate Istana 150, the Istana also saw record visitorship at the Istana Open Houses. More than 90,000 members of public visited the Istana during the past five Open Houses, a 30 percent increase from previous years’ average annual visitorship.

Warm Support for Istana 150 Commemoration

There have also been warm support from Singaporeans for the series of Istana 150 commemorative activities over the past year. Apart from the increase in visitorship to open houses this year, the Istana 150 Roving Exhibition, “Our Istana: A Living Museum”, which is still ongoing at the Woodlands Regional library, has seen more than 100,000 visitors so far.

President Halimah said, “I am happy that many Singaporeans were able to join us tonight at the grand finale of a year-long commemoration of the Istana 150^th anniversary. Many shared with me that they especially enjoyed the light show, as it was a rare opportunity to see the Istana all lighted up at night. I thank Singaporeans for their warm support of the series of commemorative events and activities held over the past year. I hope that they managed to learn more about the history and heritage of the Istana, and in that process better appreciate our Singapore story.”

Background on Istana 150

The Istana was first completed on 8 October 1869.  Once serving as the Government House for the British colonial government, it was renamed “Istana Negara Singapura” in 1959 when Singapore gained self-rule, before finally becoming “The Istana, Singapore” as it is known today, after Singapore achieved independence in 1965.  Since the start of 2019, the President’s Office has organised a series of activities to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Istana.  The “Istana 150” commemoration looked at how the Istana has been a part of the Singapore story and dug deep into our heritage and history. A series of souvenirs, books and events was launched throughout the year, with proceeds donated to charity through the President’s Challenge.

PRESIDENT’S OFFICE
6 OCTOBER 2019