St. PAUL'S CHURCH Malacca

For a while I thought I was in Macau.Remember the famous St.Paul Ruins of Macau?There is a big resemblance to the one they have in Malacca.Well, they are both ruined to start with,and they are also both situated on a hill.

St.Paul's Church Malacca is located at the summit of St. Paul's Hill and is today part of the Malacca Museum Complex which includes A Famosa Ruins and the Stadhuys which houses the MELAKA History & Ethnography Museum.

 
  St. PAUL'S CHURCH Malacca

The church of St.Paul Malacca was originally a small chapel build by a Portugese Captain called Duarto Coelho in 1521 and called “Nosa Senhora”—“Our Lady of the Hill”.The chapel was handed over to the “Society of Jesus” in 1548 and enlarged in 1556 with the addition of a second storey and Ännuciation’.A tower was added in 1590.

 

When the Dutch took over Melaka from the Portuguese,they changed its name to St.Paul’s Church and used it for 112 years until their own church, the Christ Church was completed in 1753.

St.Paul’s Church lost its tower when the British took over but had one new feature added to it---the lighthouse at the front.The British however did not use the church for worship,but used it instead for the storage of gunpowder.They also erected a tall flagpole and renamed the hill on which the church is sited to Flagstaff Hill (Bukit Bendera). The name however did not last.The flagpole was later taken down and the church abandoned.

 

 
  

Old tombstones found inside the ruins bear silent testimony to the final resting place of several Dutch and Portuguese nationals.

The renowned Spanish-born Jesuit missionary, St.Francis Xavier was a regular visitor to this church from 1545 to 1552 and when he died,his body was interred here for nine months before being exhumed and taken to his final resting place in Goa,India.A statue of St.Francis was built in 1952 to commemorate his passing and internment here.

 Old tombstones found inside the ruins
 


 

 The St.Paul’s Church ruins were gazetted as an old monument and historical site under the Antiquities act of Malaysia in 1977.

Access to St.Paul's Hill and the St.Paul's Church is free. In my case, I entered from the Red Square (Dutch Square) side and climbed for a few minutes.I then went down the other way which led me to the Dutch Graves and Porta de Santiago.After reading a few other blogs upon returning to Manila, I came to realize that the Museum Complex or St.Paul's Hill is somewhat similar to the walled city of Intramuros, except that it is on a hill and it's smaller.Or maybe if we include the whole of A Famosa,it might be bigger.I am not sure :)

From St.Paul's Hill one can see the town below which is a mix of history and modernity.

This was part of the KL Blogger Challenge courtesy of Airphil Express and Tourism Malaysia.

Airphil Express now flies to Kulala Lumpur three times a week.

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