The bronze group
Seven fifteen-metre soldiers by the sculptor of the Iwo Jima memorial.
CEphoto, Uwe Aranas — CC BY-SA 3.0 · CEphoto, Uwe Aranas — CC BY-SA 3.0 · CEphoto, Uwe Aranas — CC BY-SA 3.0 · CEphoto, Uwe Aranas — CC BY-SA 3.0
A fifteen-metre bronze group of seven soldiers, one raising the Malaysian flag above his wounded and fallen comrades. It was designed by the American sculptor Felix de Weldon, creator of the famous Iwo Jima memorial in Washington, and unveiled in 1966 in honour of those who died in the Second World War and in the Malayan Emergency, which lasted until 1960. The monument stands on a low hill above the Perdana gardens, with a reflecting pool and semicircular colonnades in front of it. Nearby is a small garden of sculptures from the ASEAN countries. Each day a soldier raises the flag at dawn and lowers it at dusk. The visit is short and free, twenty minutes is plenty, and its real value is as a stop on the route linking the Perdana gardens, the Bird Park and Parliament. It is exposed to the sun, so morning or just before sunset is best. It does not justify a trip of its own, but it adds meaning to a morning in the gardens and gives a striking photograph of the bronze group against the sky.
Seven fifteen-metre soldiers by the sculptor of the Iwo Jima memorial.
A reflecting pool and semicircular colonnades before the monument.
Sculptures from Southeast Asian nations nearby.
Jalan Parlimen, on the edge of the Perdana gardens, Kuala Lumpur
Perdana Botanical GardensKuala Lumpur's oldest public park, laid out by the British in the 1880s around a9 minutes walk4.4
KL Bird ParkYou do not look at the birds through cages here; you walk among them. The park s10 minutes walk4.3
Royal Malaysian Police MuseumA small free museum telling the history of policing in Malaysia, from the guards13 minutes walk4.6
Islamic Arts Museum MalaysiaThe largest museum of Islamic art in Southeast Asia, and arguably the finest thi13 minutes walk4.6
Merdeka SquareAt midnight on 31 August 1957 the Union Jack came down here and the flag of an i14 minutes walk4.6Not on its own. Make it a short stop within a morning at the Perdana gardens and the Bird Park; it is on the way and adds a good photograph.