St Paul Church, 1553

Built by a Portuguese captain by it name of Duarte Coetho, the chapel wi turned by the Dutch into a burial ground for their noble dead and renamed it 'St. Paul's Church from the Portuguese's "Our Lady Of The Hill".

St. Francis Xavier was briefly enshrined in the open grave in 1553 before being shipped to Goa, India.

St. Francis Xavier's Church, 1574

St. Francis Xavier, the great missionary to the East, arrived in Malacca in 1545 and served the sick and the children there. He left shortly afterwards, but came back to the town in 1547, when a military victory was attributed to him. He travelled to many countries and stopped by Malacca whenever he was around the region. His fame spread far throughout Asia.

In 1574, the saint died in a ship before he could reach China, a place that he was anxious to Christianize. People found his body perfectly incorrupt, and sailed it to Malacca. People in Malacca were in deep mourning at the funeral. On the day of the funeral, the saint, after his life on earth, performed a miracle and stopped a plague that had been causing many deaths every day.

The body of St. Francis Xavier was later shipped to Goa in India, after parts of the relics were stolen or taken by different people. Today, most of his remains still rests in the Basilica of Bom-Jesus in Old Goa. He is the patron of the Indies and is called "the apostle of the East".

The present St. Francis Xavier Church was completed in 1856.

Portuguese Square

Built in 1984, the Portuguese Square will remind you of a tiny town in Portugal. The square is a great place for relaxation and dining. There are restaurants, food stalls, pubs and a mini-museum.

Towards the evenings on most weekends, you will see plenty of visitors and tourists packing the pubs for food, concerts, and traditional Portuguese dances (performed on Saturday evening, weather permitting). It is a colourful and fun place to be!

Melaka Sultanate Palace

Malacca Sultanate Palace is an exquisite piece of Malay architecture and is a replica of the original 15th century palace of Malacca's extinct Sultanate. The palace is built based on sketches found in the ancient Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals). This wooden replica of the Sultan's palace houses the Malacca Cultural Museum.

Facing the palace is the Historic City Memorial Garden. An intriguing monument to commemorate the declaration of Malacca as a Historic City is the showpiece of this garden. The monument is topped with a replica of a Malay royal headress, a symbol of Malaysians' allegiance to the throne.

Christ Church, 1753

Situated near Jalan Laksamana and Jalan Gereja in Melaka city.

This is a churh built in 1753 by Dutch to commemorate a century of their rule. It is reputed as the oldest protestant church in Malaysia. It is now an Anglican Church.

The building shows the ingenuity of the Dutch architectural world. The beams were constructed from cutting and carving from a single tree and have no joints. The hand-made pews dated back some 200 years. The altar is a beautiful piece of the 'Last Supper' done in glazed tiles.