A Famosa (Porta De Santiago)- a Portuguese legacy in Melaka

A Famosa Fortress (built 1511 onwards)

A Famosa, or "The Famous" in Portuguese, is one of the oldest surviving remnants of European architecture in Asia. Once part of a mighty fortress, this tiny gate (called the Porta de Santiago) is all that history has spared.

In 1511 a Portuguese fleet arrived under the command of Alfonso de Albequerque. His forces attacked and successfully defeated the armies of the native Sultanate. Moving quickly to consolidate his gains, Albequerque had the fortress built around a natural hill near the sea. Albequerque believed that Melaka would become an important port linking Portugal to the spice trade from China. At his time other Portuguese were establishing outposts in such places as Macau, China and Goa, India in order to create a string of friendly ports for ships heading to China and returning home to Portugal.

The fortress once consisted of long ramparts and four major towers. One was a four-story keep, while the others held an ammunition's storage room, the residence of the captain, and an officers' quarters.

As the plan below shows, most of the village clustered in town houses inside the fortress walls. As Melaka's population expanded it outgrew the original fort and extensions were added around 1586. Throughout this time, the walls of the fort repeatedly withstood large attacks by native elements.

The fort changed hands in 1641 when the Dutch successfully drove the Portuguese out of Melaka. The Dutch renovated the gate in 1670, which explains the logo "ANNO 1670" inscribed on the gate's arch. Above the arch is a bas-relief logo of the Dutch East India Company.

The fortress changed hands again in the early 19th century when the Dutch handed it over to the British to prevent Melaka from falling into the hands of Napoleon's expansionist France. The English, knowing that they would have to return the fort to the Dutch at the end of the Napoleonic wars, were determined to make the city as useless to the Dutch as possible. They planned to relocate the population and demolish the fort. This nearly happened, but Sir Stanford Raffles (the founder of Singapore) persuaded the English to let the residents remain and also prevented the total obliteration of the fort by convincing the English to let one gate remain for history's sake. It is quite possible that in doing this, Raffles spared the remaining historical monuments of Melaka as well.

Untill now you can still find Portuguese settlement(Kg Portugis) living in Melaka and still maintain their culture, and their language but some words even modern Portuguese don't understand..!!

The Stadthuys- The Dutch Legacy in Melaka

Stadthuys Town Hall (built 1641-1660)

Stadthuys is the oldest and largest building surviving in Southeast Asia from the early Dutch colonial era. Covering 49,200 square feet (including annexes), the building practically forms its own streetscape. Groundbreaking for the central portion of the building began in 1641, the same year that the Dutch wrested control of Melaka from the Portugese, who had ruled since 1511. Work on the building continued for nearly twenty years with laborers probably drawn mostly from the Portugese population. The building served as the civic center of the town, housing the Dutch governor and his numerous aides.

Stadthuys remained the center of Dutch Administration until 1824, when the British took control of the town. The subsequent British governors continued to favor Stadthuys as a civic center. As late as 1979, the Malaysian government used the building as the State Governing Center. Since then, the building has been converted into the Ethnography Museum. Although the interior is now filled with museum exhibits, it is still possible to view much of the interior with its thick masonry walls and heavy wooden beams.

For GPS users: According to GPS readings taken on site by the author, the building is located at 2 degrees 11.66621 minutes north, 102 degrees 14.95521 degrees east (WGS84 map datum).

More picture at NIZCO ALBUM.!!!

Mengapa perlunya rumah traditional di pelihara- English cottage

Mungkin kita belum dapat merasakan betapa perlunya rumah-rumah tradisi dinegara kita perlu dikekalkan... tetapi sekiranya anda melawat ke negara maju seperti England... kita akan dapat merasakan suatu kehendak untuk melihat rumah-rumah traditional mereka... setelah melihat hanya bangunan dan rumah-rumah batu sahaja.... namun agak sukar dan hanya terdapat dikawasan pedalaman. Namun masih bolih lagi kita mencari dan ingin mengambil gambar kenangan rumah bersejarah tersebut....!!!

Lihat saja English cottage yang masih menggunakan batang gandum sebagai atapnya masih lagi dapat dikekalkan sehingga kehari ini...dan dapatkah kita cari rumah traditional dinegara kita yang masih menggunakan atap rumbia sebagai kenangan..????

WHY SOMETIMES WE LIKE TO HAVE AN OPEN VERANDAH IN RUMAH MELAKA

OLD TRADITIONAL MELAKA HOUSE HAS AN OPEN VERANDAH, AND IT USES DURING THOSE HANG TUAH DAYS WERE, HE CAN EASILY JUMP DOWN FROM THE VERANDAH TO CALM ANY RIOT OR AMUK IF HAPPEN NEARBY...!!!!! BUT STILL IN THESE MODERN DAYS......IT HAS OTHER USES...ESPECIALLY DURING HARI RAYA.....WHERE YOU COME UP WITH ALL YOUR BIG FAMILY TOGETHER TO YOUR NENEK OR DATUK HOUSE THAT HAS THOSE VERANDAH.... TO ENJOY YOUR HARIRAYA MEALS IN AN OPEN AIR ATMOSPHERE HAPPILY AND VERY GOOD OTHER USES ..... DON'T BELIEVE???????................ SEE THESE PICTURE....!!!!! NOT ONLY HANG TUAH AND THE GANG CAN HAVE A BETTER SEAT ON IT..... THOSE TUN FATIMAH AND THE GANG CAN ALSO SIT ON THE VERANDAH......SEE!!!

DUTCH SQUARE OR MELAKA RED SQUARE

Melaka were rich in history with it glorious Melaka Sultanate Empire before conquered by The Portuguese,then Dutch and British. Remnant buildings by the Portuguese, Dutch and British can still be seen in Melaka.

One of the famous site left by the Dutch were the Dutch Square or also known as "The Stadthuys".. BUILT IN 1650. It was an official residence of the Dutch governor.It now houses the Historic Museum and Ethnography Museum which has many traditional bridal costumes and relics on display. The building in this area display the Dutch architecture.

All the building were painted red including the Dutch Church and Clock tower. Since all the colour is painted red, the area was also known as MELAKA RED SQUARE!!!

....and one memorable Queen's Victoria fountain were the place for a memorable picture ...almost a must by foreign tourist and visitor taking memorable and romantic couple picture in Melaka....see the picture....!!!

Previously..there are a lot of pigeon at the place....where picture taking were more interesting with the live birds..but there is no more now...?

Lining the red building were sourvenier seller as well as "Beca" or trycle for the visitor to try..!