At the front of St. Luke's Chapel is a simple, but must have been a very comforting altar. Obviously these flowers were not there during the occupation, I could imagine the men gathering what ever they could find.
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For a detailed description of the murals see FORTRESS SINGAPORE, The Battlefield Guide, pp. 100-103, Maj. Yap Siang Yong, Romen Bose, Angeline Pang, Times Books International, Second Edition 1995. Available at most major book sellers in Singapore.
Block 151 was built in 1939, by 1942 it was part of the Changi POW camp. Parts of the camp were used for a hospital. Block 151 was used for dysentery patients. At the end of the block, on the first floor, a room was converted to St. Luke's Chapel, by the Rev. F.H. Stallard. Stanley Warren, a patient recovering in the ward, was inspired to paint murals inside the chapel. Paint was not readily available, and many of the men helped scrounge up what ever they could. Stanley was able to complete the murals before Christmas, just before he became too sick to move.
Stanley made it through the end of the war, as well as four and one quarter of his original five murals. The murals were forgotten for many years, however once rediscovered the hunt was on to locate the artist. Amazingly, Stanley was located and was brought back on three separate occasions in 1968, 1982 and 1988 to touch up the murals.
We were told that there is an inquiry looking into cutting out the murals and moving them. I can't imagine cutting the walls up will be very healthy for the murals. My suggestion is to see the murals before this work starts.
At the front of St. Luke's Chapel is a simple, but must have been a very comforting altar. Obviously these flowers were not there during the occupation, I could imagine the men gathering what ever they could find. |
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This is the one quarter mural. This wall was partially demolished when the Japanese made alterations to the room. |
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| The amount of detail and shading that went into these murals is quite amazing. Remember that paint was unavailable, and the men had to scrounge up what ever pigment and dyes they could find. |  |
Copyright © Glenn Griffin 1999, 2000 and 2003. All rights reserved