Singapore Puts up Padang as Candidate for UNESCO World Heritage Site

VIVA – The Padang and its surrounding architecture have been identified as a potential candidate for next Singapore’s UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was announced by the National Heritage Board (NHB) on Thursday.

Singapore has a square called The Padang Civic Ensemble located in the Downtown Core historical center area in the country's Central Area.

This site was chosen as it is considered most likely to fill the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Criterion of being an “outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape with illustrates a significant stage in human history.

“This is because The Padang Civic Ensemble is an outstanding example of a British colonial civic square in the tropics,” NHB said in a media release.

“The coalescence of colonial-era and post-independence civic institutions within a single municipal area bears testament to the historically widespread phenomenon of decolonization and the globally significant transition of long-held British territories to newly independent nations in the decades following World War II."

The agency added that the Padang already has a high level of preservation and was authorized as a national monument on August 9, 2022.

Adjacent buildings such as the Victoria Theater and Concert Hall, the Former Supreme Court Building and City Hall (now the National Gallery of Singapore), the Former Parliament Building and Pavilion Building (now the National Arts Building), as well as other monuments also have high historical value in the area.

According to NHB, The Padang Civic Ensemble has been added to Singapore's Tentative List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. This is an important step towards participating in the initial assessment, a new mechanism in the UNESCO World Heritage Site process.

Under the preliminary assessment, countries will receive guidance from the World Heritage Centre and two international advisory bodies before the submission of a full-scale nomination. If the site is nominated and subsequently inscribed, this entire process could take five to six years.

In addition to the preliminary assessment, NHB said it will carry out further research this year to determine potential implications on the site and surrounding developments. This will help to guide the decision at a later stage on whether Singapore will formally pursue the nomination.

“This is an important step as Singapore will have to carefully study and balance long-term urban redevelopment needs with the protection requirements of a World Heritage Site,” NHB stated.