There are several interesting sites that you can visit at St. Paul’s Hill: More than 5 museums, Stadthuys, Melaka Sultanate Palace, 2 churches and A’ Famosa.

Christ Church is located next to the Queen Victoria’s fountain. It’s also the first attraction that most tourists would visit here.

Built by the Dutch in 1753 to commemorate the centenary of their occupation of Malacca, this church took 12 years to complete. No expense was spared in building it – from the wooden ceiling beams, each cut from a single tree, to the elaborately hand carved pews and frieze of “The Last Supper”. When the British took over the church in 1795, they put in a few additions, most notably the weathercock atop the bell tower. Originally a Dutch Reform Church, it was later consecrated as an Anglican Church.

The church is still in a very good condition. Photograph is not allowed in the church though, so I only spent like 5 minutes in the church. The church is relatively small, similar size to most of the contemporary churches in Kuala Lumpur. There’s no way it can rival the churches that I visited during my trips in Italy and Vatican.

I then paid RM 2 to enter Stadthuys, which I later found that we don’t even need to go through the main entrance where the ticket counter was located in order to enter Stadthuys. Stadthuys is linked to all the historical sites within the premises, there are many exits from each historical site and the whole area wasn’t guarded or fenced. So one can actually enter any museum or any sites from any exit. But since it was only RM2, the price that never increase since 2006, I was more than happy to pay it.

The internal of the Stadthuys

The Stadthuys (an old Dutch spelling, literally meaning “town hall”), also known as the Red Square, is a historical structure situated in the heart of Malacca Town, the administrative capital of the state of Malacca. It was built by the Dutch occupants in 1650 the office of the Dutch Governor and Deputy Governor.

Guess what is it?

It is the drainage system of Stadthuys

Today, Stadthuys is used for displaying bits and pieces of the different eras of Malacca’s colourful history and the culture of its people. The museum provides very general information about Malaysia history and culture like most of the museums that I have visited in Malaysia.

It was quite a disappointment as I actually expected more information about the architectural layout, historical function and past activities of the Stadthuys itself.  Throughout the whole journey, I knew very little about Stadthuys and need to do my own research online.

The courtyard, with the statue of Admiral Cheng Ho in the middle.

Close up of Admiral Cheng Ho – still can’t tell how does he look like?

Here is his painting.

Not going to write much about Cheng Ho’s biography. Wikipedia is a good teacher if you wanna know more – Cheng Ho Wiki.

There is a well at the courtyard called Portuguese Well

I tried to capture the information board about Portuguese Well so I don’t have to explain more in my blog, unfortunately the reflection of my image kind of distracting for the reading.

After passing through the courtyard and the statue of Cheng Ho, I was led to Gallery of Admiral Cheng Ho, Melaka Literature Museum, Governors Museum and Democratic and Government Museum. I wasn’t interested in visiting the museums, so I just had a fleeting glimpse in Gallery of Cheng Ho.

Exited from Gallery of Cheng Ho, there was a pathway hiking up to St. Paul’s Hill. It was a very nice walk with strong wind almost blew off my hat. The cool breeze came like an angel washing away my sweat under the hot sun. Spectacular view came into sight when I hiked higher.

Panoramic view of Strait of Malacca, Eye on Malaysia and Maritime Museum. Amazing, isn’t it?

Concrete staircase to St. Paul Church.

My friend Chee Shiong told me this place used to be his regular jogging path. Nice place for jogging!

This place kind of reminds me of Italy. Lush green field, beautiful blue sky and ruins.

The statue of St. Francis Xavier with the missing right arm

The statue was built in 1952 in order to commemorate this saint. However, many are curious about the missing right arm of the statue. The statue was not being constructed without the right arm on purpose. The completed statue was planned to be consecrated in the morning. However, a tree fell and broke off the statue’s right arm. Until today, the statue that stood in front of St. Paul Church has a missing right arm.

The ruins of St. Paul’s church stand at the summit of St. Paul’s hill near the remains of A Famosa fortress. The site was originally occupied by the “Chapel of the Annunciation”, which was built in 1521 by Duarte Coelho in gratitude to the Virgin Mary for saving his life in the South China sea. In 1548 the Archbishop of Goa in India handed over the church to the Jesuits, who began renovating it in 1566. The present building was completed in 1590, with the tower on the right side of the sacristy added in 1593. (Excerpted from http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/malaysia/melaka/stpauls.php)

Complete history about St. Paul Church: http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/malaysia/melaka/stpauls.php

Tombstones in St. Paul Church

St. Paul Church was then turned into burial ground for their noble dead by the Dutch. The tombstones have Latin and Portuguese inscriptions on them. St. Francis Xavier was buried here in 1553 before his body was moved to Goa in India.

Small doorway to another room inside the church

This is the only picture with me in it. I was visiting alone, not so good to keep bugging the tourists to take photo for me :-p

Ruin of St. Paul Church

Dutch Graveyard

A’Famosa with Dataran Pahlawan at the back

I used a different route to go down the hill where it led me to the A’Famosa. Do you have a clearer picture now of how close is the Dataran Pahlawan from A’Famosa?

A’Famosa aka Porta de Santiago

After Portuguese captured Malacca, they built a fortress to defend themselves. The fortress, called A’Famosa suffered severe destruction during the Dutch invasion. What’s left today is just the entrance walls, still well preserved till today.

Along the way back to Queen Victoria’s fountain, I passed through several museums but wasn’t keen to visit after reading some negative reviews from Tripadvisor.

People Museum and UMNO Musuems are among 2 museums that you will encounter when walking back to Queen Victoria’s fountain from A’Famosa.

Few old men lazing under the trees.

Display of antique fire engine

Backyard of Stadthuys indicated that I was close to where I came

Melaka Islamic Museum

In case you are interested

Malacca River

After about 2 hours touring in the whole area, I took a rest by Malacca river right across St. Paul’s Hill. Melaka River Cruise is available here too. The 45-minute cruise is accompanied by an entertaining and informative commentary. See parts of historical Melaka, get a history lesson for next to nothing, and never break a sweat!

Tips:

There are 18 boats available which can accommodate 20 to 40 people. The boats will leave every 30 minutes. Price : Adult RM 10.00 and Children RM 5.00.

There is another parking area just across the river.

It was a really relaxing day just toured around the town with a laptop with me. After a short stroll in Jonker’s street, I went back to Holiday Inn sat at the lounge for hours blogging and surfing net. Love the life like this.

External Links:

Visit Malaysia – Malacca Tour

Insight of St. Paul’s Church

A’Famosa Wikipedia

Information about Stadthuys from Wikipedia

The Stadthuys of Malacca – Holland Focus

Dutch Square (The Stadthuys) – AmazingMelaka.com

Video: 5 short clips of Melaka Stadthuys square

Melaka River Cruise Online Booking