Quote:The Van Kleef Aquarium was finally opened in 1955, 25 years - TopicsExpress

Quote:The Van Kleef Aquarium was finally opened in 1955, 25 years after the benefactor’s death. The aquarium on River Vally Road, was a great success and attracted 166,000 visitors in its first four months of operation. The annual visitorship climbed steadily from about 200,00 to a peak of 400,000. The aquarium was closed in 1991 because it was unable to compete with the new Underwater World in Sentosa. It was privatised and re-opened as the World of Aquarium. It failed after two years. It changed hands again and reopened as the Fort Canning Aquarium in 1993. In December 1996, the aquarium was closed for the final time. Two years later, in 1998, the building was demolished and, with it, the name of our benefactor, Karel van Kleef. Singapore should not allow the name of the only person who loved us so much that he bequeathed his entire estate to our country to disappear from our collective memory. I cannot help comparing him with an Englishman, James Smithson, who made a similar bequest to America. The US Congress accepted the bequest with gratitude and established the Smithsonian Institution in his memory. The Smithsonian Institution is today one of the great cultural institutions of America and of the world. Let us think of an appropriate way to perpetuate the memory of Karel van Kleef.