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Published: August 24th 2021
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Heart of Melaka: Dutch Build City
My first tour with Shaukani
The Dutch have a long association with Malaysia having first encountered the Sultan of Johor in 1602 when their fleet was looking for spices to trade.
Holland colonised Melaka from 1641 until the British took over in 1826.
As Shaukani took us across the Melaka & down streets with Dutch names, like: Heerenstraat and Jonker Walk, many of the houses were in the Dutch style of the time with narrow frontage, one large window & a door on the ground floor and one window on the first floor, the frontage was narrow due to the taxation but the depth of the houses were very long as much as 70mtrs, with courtyards and gardens inside. Bricks from Holland were shipped in to build these houses.
When the Dutch left many the houses became the property of the Chinese and renovated to the Chinese style that we see today.
Dutch Square Malacca is very picturesque with it’s bright, terracotta-red colonial Dutch buildings, built between 1660 and 1700, with louvered windows and chunky doors with wrought iron hinges. Originally white but painted red by the British,
said to be the oldest-existing Dutch building in the East.
A marble fountain in the square was erected in 1904 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.
Christ Church was built in 1753 to commemorate the centenary of Dutch occupation and to replace an earlier Portuguese church. The red bricks were shipped all the way from Holland.
The Clocktower although looks Dutch was actually built by a wealthy Chinese family in 1886 in honour of a rich Chinese merchant.
The windmill on the square is less than 1/10 of a normal size windmill.
A very interesting tour & I look forward to the next one about the time Melaka was occupied by the Portuguese.
An interesting second virtual tour in Melaka.
St.Paul’s chapel on top of the hill was the starting point for our tour today.
The original structure was a simple chapel built in 1521, built by a Portuguese nobleman as an act of gratitude following his escape from a storm in the South China Sea.
The chapel was deeded to the Society of Jesus in 1548 by the Bishop of Goa, João The chapel was then further enlarged
in 1556 with the addition of a second floor, and a belfry tower was added in 1590. The chapel was then renamed the Church of the Mother of God.
In 1548 St. Francis Xavier with the help of fellow Jesuits established a school in the premises of the chapel known as St. Paul's College.
Xavier used the church as his base for his missionary journeys to China & Japan. On one of those journeys, Xavier fell sick and in 1552 in China he died.
The body of Xavier was disinterred from Shangchuan Island and temporarily buried at the church before it was finally shipped to Goa.
His followers decided to bury Francis Xavier's body in a wooden casket. A grave was dug and the casket filled with lime to make it easier to transfer his bones to India. Stones were put on the site of the grave to mark its location.
The grave was opened two and a half months after he was buried and the body was reportedly just as it had been at the time of death. The fact that the body did not decompose was considered evidence that Francis Xavier was indeed
a saint, and his corpse became a relic.
In 1614, the entire right arm of the saint's body was detached and the upper arm was divided into two pieces both which were sent to two Jesuit colleges.
The hand and forearm were sent to Rome to the Church of the Gesù
With the conquest of Malacca by the Dutch in 1641, the church was reconsecrated.
In 1924, the old Portuguese burial vault in the church was partially uncovered. Further excavation was done in 1930 and it was then that the tombstones that were scattered around the church were fixed to the walls.
In 1952 a statue of St.Francis Xavier was erected in front of the ruins of the church in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of his sojourn in Malacca. A day after the statue was consecrated, a large tree fell on it, breaking off its right forearm !!!!
Making our way down the hill we saw Bastion House constructed in 1910 by the British company Dunlop as their headquarters- Dunlop Rubber Company owned many rubber plantations in Malaysia at that time.
The historic Portuguese/Dutch Fortress of Malacca was destroyed by the British
in 1807 some remnants remain but in recent years excavations have unearthed some parts of the ancient walls of the fortress. The main remain of the fortress is the Porta de Santiago. This was one of the old gates of the city walls during the Portuguese period, which was severely damaged in 1641 during the Dutch siege and later it was demolished and rebuilt.
The Melaka Tree - (Indian Gooseberry) Legend has it that Parameswara was resting under a Melaka tree when he saw a mousedeer kick his hunting dogs. Honouring the brave mousedeer he chose to build a new settlement at the site and named the area Melaka that became a state in Malaysia.
For such a short tour of only 45 minutes we learnt so much.
https://www.heygo.com/shaukani
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