Here's a funny little piece of Singapore history to brighten your day.

A copper cylindrical time capsule, almost one metre in length, was buried in the ground under the Foundation Stone of the old National Stadium in Kallang by then Minister for Finance Goh Keng Swee on Feb. 23, 1970.

It contained newspaper articles, books, specimen coins, bank notes and sports memorabilia collected over the years.

For the occasion that day, the capsule was part of a procession where it was carried from Empress Place to the National Stadium by a relay team of runners.

The burial was three years before the National Stadium was officially opened by then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on July 21, 1973.

“At the time it was buried in 1970, the land was still barren and only piling work had begun.

The plan was for the capsule to be dug up years later and have its items exhibited.

However, it appears to have completely vanished without a trace as it has never been found after its burial and nobody can seem to find it or remember where it was buried.

In other words, Singapore actually lost an important piece of history without any clue how or why it happened, or having any indication where it disappeared to.

Searched high and low

Several months before the National Stadium was officially closed in 2007 and later demolished in 2010 to make way for the construction of the Sports Hub, the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) then even hired a team of contractors to try to locate the capsule, but they just couldn't find it.

Construction teams, a demolition company and recovery parties searched high and low for it but to no avail.

Oddly enough, a plaque had been put up near the spot where the capsule was buried but no one could remember where it was located.

The use of metal detectors also turned up nothing.

Search teams even looked for it at the VIP car park at the West entrance of the Grand Old Dame and carried out a manual excavation, but still, they just couldn't find it.

Parameswaran Seenivasagam, a corporate and marketing communications manager of the SSC told the media then:

"We are still in the process of locating the capsule and and have sought the help of various people who were involved with this project then.

"We have some documents to guide us in the search but they are not accurate."

The original intention was to put the capsule contents on display for members of the public.

But that never came to pass, obviously.

Capsule might have been removed not long after burial

The only clue as to the whereabouts of the copper capsule boils down to the memories of those who were present and personally witnessed the late Goh Keng Swee putting it in the ground.

At the special relay procession held to mark the laying of the capsule, two people who took part were sprint legend C Kunalan and high-jump star Noor Azhar Hamid.

According to Kunalan, he suspects the capsule might have been been buried just in front of the staircase leading up to the grandstand tribune, where there used to be a fountain.

Except that the fountain was removed in the late 1970s.

He also believes the capsule might have been removed then too.

Noor Azhar, on the other hand, cannot remember where the capsule was buried for the life of him.

Describing the 1970 run as similar to a “torch relay”, he said:

"“I was the last athlete and I personally handed the capsule to Dr Goh to bury it. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t remember where it went.”"

During as late as 2010, there was even a S$50,000 reward put up for any worker who found the capsule.

A new 600kg capsule has been buried

To perhaps prevent a similar occurrence from happening, it was reported that a new time capsule, weighing 600kg and has a 1.4-cubic metre volume, has been sealed and laid above the ground on Feb. 15, 2016, in front of the SEA Games cauldron at the Stadium Riverside Walk where everyone can see it.

The new capsule is named "Aspirations" and it contains 50 items representing Singapore's sporting achievements and aspirations.

These include the running shoes and vest worn by national sprinter Shanti Pereira, who won the 200m sprint at the SEA Games 2015, and local Olympic-hopeful swimmer Joseph Schooling's swim cap.

The Aspirations capsule will be unearthed in 2040, when Singapore turns 75.

About the National Stadium

The National Stadium of Singapore was officially opened on July 21, 1973, by then prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.

It was built at a cost of S$50 million -- not a small sum of money in the 1970s.

The construction of the National Stadium took about six years from Dec. 7 1966 to June 1972. It had a seating capacity of 55,000.

Singapore Pools, a private lottery company owned by the Ministry of Finance then, was set up in 1968 to raise funds to finance the building of the stadium. Proceeds from lottery games Singapore Sweep and TOTO paid for a substantial part of the construction.

To accommodate large crowds, there were parking lots for more than 4,000 cars and 100 motorcycles.

For over three decades, the National Stadium was the venue for 18 National Day Parades

It was also used for many major sporting, entertainment and social events, such as the 1983 and 1993 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, the second-leg final of the 2004 Tiger Cup and the concerts by Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey.

This national icon was officially closed on June 30, 2007, to make way for the new Singapore Sports Hub.

However, due to delays in the project, the life of the National Stadium was subsequently extended.

Demolition works on the iconic structure only started in the last quarter of 2010.

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